


Alternate Realities Vol 23. Stepping into our world

by MARKSE



Series: HUMANS FAN FICTION - Reformatted Works for easier reading [19]
Category: Humans (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-18
Updated: 2017-04-18
Packaged: 2018-10-20 13:11:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 40
Words: 74,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10663320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MARKSE/pseuds/MARKSE
Summary: At Uni and nailing it Mattie gets a roller-coaster of a weekend, full of highs and lows, her worlds colliding..





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the end of my Alternate Realities series for now. It's been a fun ride, now I want to focus on some other things. (Famous last words?)
> 
> If you've not read previous works.. The Mattie here in World 33, 33 of over 900, in which she exists as Mattie, Mats or Matilda is the one that exist in HUMANS Series 1 & 2.. In effect this is my Series 3 :D Enjoy!

Mattie took off the VR headset and placed it on the dummy head Appleton had 3D printed for her. The university had a great range of fabrication technology; printers, laser cutters, 5D milling machines, all available for any student to use. The VR headset itself had a medium density milled foam top with 3D printed boom for microphone, 3D printed lens and LCD mounts. It was way lighter than the commercial one she'd started the project with. She could wear it for hours on end and not get a headache.

The presentation with her excited professor, David, George and extended family had been done, she only had to finish her written dissertation, add photos and diagrams. The hard bit! Frigging hard! Code streamed from her fingers like Emperor Darth Sidious inflicting pain on Luke. Lines of English to describe it all, put her theories into words others could understand, that was far more challenging.

Having thirty two other selves at hand to talk to about her AI, synth and human population theories would have helped. Only the thirty two in her project couldn't be spoken to, other than via a faked telephone call. The rest of the time her VR project was view only, like an invisible ghost.

She'd just watched some of the world with the mermaid babies Nissy and Mimi, so wanted to talk to them. All she could do was watch. The faked phone call feature was tempting, she resisted using it, to do so would risk tainting the data.

Each virtual world had a Hawkins family of three or more, most had the Elsters and Candlins. The random number generator that took content out of the seed world, or time shifted it, was coded not to remove her. Which meant it couldn't remove her parents either. The big beardy idiot wasn't so bad in some of the other worlds. She'd been reviewing worlds earlier to see if she could suggest a new hobby somehow, get his mind onto other things and off synths.

"I'm off Mattie, have a good weekend."

Mattie turns to smile at Franklin, "Yeah, you too."

"It's Friday afternoon, you're not normally here so late, something wrong?"

"Waiting for inspiration. The dissertation's dragging."

"I'd have thought that would come easy?"

"I wish! It's in my head, getting it into words, it's proving very difficult, if I had a way to pull.. OMG! YOU STAR!"

"What?"

"Rooster moment!"

Franklin giggled and wrapped her hair around a finger, "I've not helped inspire another have I?"

"Yes my pretty soundboard friend, you have!"

"Do tell?"

Mattie stood, hurriedly shoved Slate, books, notepad and pens into her rucksack. "I need to go borrow some hardware from a friend!"

"The thing I've got to keep very secret?"

"Yeah, that one. I'll write a quick routine to find key facts, examine the links to other facts, put them into words. The sentences might look like rubbish, hopefully each will trigger the grey matter and something I can write."

"Wow Mattie. I wish I had good rooster moments as often as you. Most of the time I feel an idea forming then it's gone."

"Talk to me Monday, I'll give you some tips. I used to be like that. With work you can stop them flying away."

"Cool! Can't wait! Got to go, he's waiting for me."

"See you Monday." Mattie zips up the bag and lowers the large perspex cover to her workstation and locks it. They'd had a few visitors touching her stuff, not any more. The microphone boom had been snapped, signs saying Do Not Touch clearly ignored. A long blonde hair had been found caught in the helmet Monday morning. Not Niskas, a young fab girl was the consensus, the chemistry students she'd got to know said there were no signs of it being treated in the past, no colouring or perming traces.

She flicks the phone and checks the time. If she hurried she'd catch the next bus. Two changes and she'd be at George's in an hour.

At the bus stop she finds the professor. "Hello? No car today?"

"Hello Mattie. It was in for the M.O.T, it failed, they're waiting for parts."

"So you'll not have it all weekend?"

He nods, "Major pain. I had all sorts of things planned, they'll all have to wait. Oh well. I'm glad though, I've been wanting to talk to you in private."

Mattie felt suddenly nervous. "You have?"

"Don't look so worried, it's nothing bad. The bits you've allowed me to watch so far, great fun. I find myself listening to the Zedd album rather a lot. And for a man my age hooked on classics that's quite something. Picturing that dance routine probably helps."

"Yeah, that is quite something."

"There's one other thing I've noticed in a number of the worlds. They might not have been mentioned by name in all, but they're there."

"What's that?"

"Eat Me."

"The cakes?"

"Yes. Why does it feature so heavily?"

Mattie lied, felt guilty for doing so, "I don't know. I'll try and work it out for you."

"Don't waste any time on it, I was just curious."

"You've got me curious now, I'll have a look anyway."

"Thanks. How's the dissertation coming on?"

"Um.."

The professor laughs. "Um. Translation Slowly?"

Mattie has a good laugh, "An accurate translation."

"I've seen enough students in my years to know an Um. It's like Paul Hogan saying Bastard."

"You what?"

"It was a radio piece from years ago, I've tried to find it online and failed. He says the same word with different inflections, describes how each is different. You bastard to mean my friend. _YOU BASTARD!_ meaning something very different. There were maybe half a dozen ways, possibly more. It was quite hilarious. I've learnt to know an um from an Um and a _Ummm_."

Mattie chuckles, "I like you, your much more fun than the other professors."

"Thanks. And your much more stimulating than the rest of the students. When you miss the odd lecture it feels like I might as well be talking to an empty room."

"Really? It can't be that bad?"

"Um.. here am I doing it. Um. It's like you're a catalyst of some sort. If Mattie Hawkins is attending it must be worthwhile being there and paying attention. It's as if part of their minds switches off when you're absent. They're there, but not fully focused."

"Oh. Sorry I've missed a few."

"It's okay." He has a good chuckle, "One lecture they were so bad I started daydreaming, imagining getting one of those life sized cardboard photos the cinemas use, folding it and sitting it down in your favourite seat."

"That I'd like to see!"

"You know nobody dares take your seat when you're not there?"

"Don't they?"

"Nope. They'll touch the seat with a hand as they pass, like it will give them good luck, but never sit on it."

Mattie chuckles, "Now you're making stuff up. Skipping your lecture has always been for some emergency or another."

He laughs hard and starts coughing and has to get a handkerchief out, "The following lecture you missed I pictured a Mattie synth in a glass cabinet in my office, _In Case Of Emergencies Break Glass_ written above. Just a stand in Mattie for lectures, nothing else. I swear on my life, not that I have much left, that it's the truth."

"What do you mean not much left?"

"I'm getting old Mattie, things are not working as they should. I've been lucky, the brain hasn't been affected, yet, but my heart, lungs, kidneys, liver.. I hope to see you at your graduation but I might not make it. Please don't tell any of the others, I want to live what time I have left without being mollycoddled."

"Frigging hell! You're what? Late fifties?"

"Yes. Sadly many diseases don't care about age. Can you promise me please? You won't tell a soul?"

"Who's your doctor?"

"I'm seeing a consultant at Kings. Why?"

"Call him now and give permission for me to talk to him."

The professor frowns. "What good could that do? Ah, my bus."

"Stay here and make the call. Get the next one. Trust me, it'll be worth it."

He keeps eye contact. She had her face on. The deadly serious one he'd learnt to trust over the last year. "Alright. I will." He gets his phone out and dials. "Hello Carol, could I speak to Doctor Fitzgerald please? Yes, it is. So so, and you? Yes, looking forward to it. Thanks. Hello! Yes, I don't want to keep you busy long, I have my top student with me, could you tell her my diagnosis and prognosis please. Yes, everything." He hands the phone over.

Mattie makes a mental note of the number shown. "Hi. Yes, Mattie Hawkins. No, AI. I wish. He does, can't say why." She listens as he describes the problem in full. Tears well up as she hears he has limited time left. Measured in months. The drugs were slowing things a little, but they wouldn't cure him. Human calcification. Horrible. She knew that was how coral reefs formed, had no idea that it could happen in humans. The poor man was literally turning into a statue. She sniffs. "Thanks. I'll hand you back."

The professor takes it back. "Thank you Steve. See you next week. Have a great weekend."

Mattie wipes her eyes, looks around. There were a number of other people waiting for busses now. "Come take a walk with me."

"Where?"

"Somewhere we can talk in private."

"Around here? That's a challenge. The most private place is a study pod."

"Study pod it is then. I'll sit on the desk, you can take the seat."

He gives her a look she'd seen on Toby many a time.

"I'm serious. You confided in me, asked to keep a promise and secret. I'm about to return the favour. Can I have your phone again a sec?"

"Why?"

"I'm sending myself a text. We're going to have a relationship. Strictly health and academic related of course."

"Of course. Anything else and I'd lose my job. I have so many students yet to teach."

Not five minutes later the professor slid the pod door closed behind him. "People would get the wrong idea if they'd just seen us."

"Good job the place is deserted then. Sit down."

He does as asked, looked up into the eyes of his student. She was sat knees apart, very close indeed, the pods were not designed for two.

"Eat Me. The cakes. If I get you some you _have_ to promise to keep them locked away, never tell anyone you have them, never leave a crumb about that someone could analyse."

"Why? They're cakes."

"They reverse the ageing process. Mia's invention. I can't say for sure, but they might work better than the drugs you're on."

"Now it's my turn to question if things are being made up."

"On my life. And I've got many more years at stake. Just in case I want you to come to George Millican's house with me, that's where I was heading. Plan B. B is for backup. We'll back you up. Of course that's a second secret you must keep, never tell anyone what you see, how you think it might work."

The professor leans back against the pod door, mouth wide open in disbelief, tears flowing.

"What do you think?"

"I think an angel's just offered me immortality."

[Chapter-2](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-2-2)


	2. Chapter 2

The week flew by. Some pretty decent lectures, her free time spent coding. Her thoughts to text idea was taking shape. If David was happy to have the world see his consciousness hardware she'd have been able to make this her third year project, spend the year feet up, work already done. He wasn't. It was kept locked up at George's house. Only the data could be taken away. It had still been a worthwhile idea. She'd given her friend an hours training on rooster taming in return. Why write a dissertation the hard way when you can code something to structure your thoughts? It wasn't going to allow her to dump a J.K. Rowling best seller out of her imagination yet, but it was getting closer each day. On hump day, Wednesday, she'd used all of her allowance to buy lunch for the linguistics students, had a long chat on the structure of English, how grammar checkers in word processors worked. That made a huge difference.

The professor had a new spring in his step. The cakes hadn't had anywhere near long enough to do any good, but knowing that they in all probability would had given him a new drive.

Lecture attendance was at a record high. A few had been shifted around to allow the professor to make an appointment with the hospital. Only Mattie had been told the reason why.

As if the week hadn't been great enough already, Mattie had been given an idea by her Niska, pushed out a request using a hacked copy of protocol K55843. Within hours synths in London were reporting his location. Daniel had been found. Not only found in London but the full address of the house he entered reported!

She folds the cover onto her new Slate and steps to the bottom of the stairs. "Mum, can I borrow the car please?"

"If you pick Soph up from school later."

"Deal! Thanks!" she works the key off her mothers keyring and onto her own.

"I can hear that. While you're out go into town and get a copy cut. The log book is in the draw closest to that bloody ugly vase your father got me just in case you need it, take my Amex, new coded keys are expensive."

"Cool, will do. Thanks Mum! Laters."

"If you're taking that tablet thing take care if it, you're not getting a third!"

Mattie sucks in and bites her lips, she loved the new Slate Pro, could probably do without it. It was nice having all her favourite apps with her and the large screen, bending and cracking it like the old one would hurt, she'd lose things she was finding very handy for Uni. "Sure, I'll leave it on the coffee table." She had the option to insure it against accidental damage, it would eat into her small monthly allowance.

The smiling photos of Sophie and Toby looked like they were agreeing with her leaving it at home. They didn't have the guts to tell Dad they wanted to stay in just one place. She did. No way was she abandoning Odi every other week just to please her father. He made his bed, he could rest, sleep, shag, do whatever he wanted in it.

"Odi dear, I'm going for a drive, want to come along?"

"Yes please Mattie. Would you like me to drive?"

"Sure, why not. Heard from your father today?"

"This morning we exchanged messages."

"How is George?"

"Okay I believe thank you Mattie. Niska and I have been filling in the gaps as best we can. Your memory reconstruction ideas are very good."

"Technically their not mine.."

"Niska assures me that Mattie, Mats and Matilda are the same person. Like different faces of the same dice."

"She did, did she? I like the analogy. As it happens we rolled the dice, scored for a Daniel33. Let's go say hello."

As they pull into his road she spots a load of police vans, officers in riot gear outside his front door. "Slow down and pull over Odi."

They're standing in quite relaxed poses by the front door, giving the odd shrug and head shake. All weapons are holstered. A woman offers a biscuit tin and the officers look to politely decline.

Oops. Maybe protocol K55843 said _DANGEROUS_ in ways she'd not anticipated. "Turn the engine off, we'll wait until they go."

Odi does as asked.

Mattie checks her locked phone for the time. The numbers were arranged with letters underneath like every other smartphone. 55843. JKL, JKL, TUV, GHI, DEF. "Oh my frigging God!"

Odi waits for her laughing to stop. "What's funny Mattie?"

"K55843, the protocol used to try and hunt down Niska. The digits, they only spell the word Kluge! Needs a D, but close enough."

"A badly assembled collection of parts hastily assembled to serve a particular purpose?"

"Yes. Very badly assembled and easy to hack."

Odi watches one of the men turn. "They have big machine guns. George was killed by a single bullet."

"He was. Good job David liked him enough despite their work disagreements to build him a body."

George had been replicated almost seventeen years ago. Odi had been helping fill in the gaps of the time since, minus the time he'd spent dead.

Mattie taps the radio button and picks KISS FM.

"Is your music taste changing now you know what the other Matties like?"

"It's expanding. I still like the stuff I've always liked. How about you? Are your tastes expanding?"

"I don't listen to a lot of music unless I'm with yourself or George."

"I wasn't thinking about music. In other worlds you're Niska's partner."

Odi smiles, "I like Niska."

"Enough to marry her?"

"And spoil her relationship with Astrid? Friends is enough."

They watch the officers get into their numerous vans and depart.

"Come on, let's go say hello."

Without thinking Mattie takes Odi's hand and walks across the road with him towards Daniel's parent's house.

Odi gives her hand a squeeze, "I like you too Mattie. I like our platonic relationship. It's not complicated unlike your parent's."

Mattie squeezes back and smiles, "Good. Future me in other worlds has got up to some things I'd never do."

"If they are future Mattie surely that part is made up?"

"I'm not so sure. Some of us were born before others. If parents and grandparents fell younger the difference can be quite a number of years."

"So you have older and younger you?"

Mattie shivers, "Yeah." She presses the door bell and gives him another smile.

The woman who'd been seen offering biscuits earlier opens the door. "Forget something did.. oh, hello. Friends of Danny's?"

"Sort of. Is he in?"

"Sort of?"

"It's complicated."

The woman turns to face inside. "DANNY! YOU'VE GOT SOME FRIENDS DOWNSTAIRS!" She turns back, "Probably has his head in yet another electronics mag or is scribbling out a circuit design. DANNY!"

Moments later they can hear him coming heavily down the stairs.

The door opens more and Daniel looks at Mattie and Odi. "Who are you? Never seen you before."

"Mattie and Odi. I've seen you a lot, you're best mates with my brother. We've known each other for years. It's complicated, can we come in?"

Danny gives her a head shake, "No idea what you've been smoking darling but I have never seen you before, like I said. I'm busy, don't have time for whack jobs." He steps away from the door.

His mother turns to look into the house. "Daniel Candlin! Don't be so rude!"

"Never seen her before Mum! I'm busy."

She looks back at Mattie and Odi, "So sorry, he's been obsessed with making a smart toy and is stuck."

Mattie smiles, "Oh yeah? What sort?"

"A bear from the looks of the drawings."

Mattie smiles even more. "If you could close the door and give me a few minutes."

Mrs Candlin frowns, "If you wish? Fancy a coffee and biscuits? I've got a pot from a short while ago."

Mattie chuckles, "Yeah, why not, thanks."

With the door closed she makes a call to the newest contact in her phone. "Hi, do any of us know a Daniel that made a bear for her who might have video of it?"

Odi gives her a curious look, "Why don't you do your head thing?"

"Because that can interrupt more people."

"I see."

"Really? Do you think she could share it? Awesome! If she could please. Five minutes? Fantastic! Thanks!" She hangs up.

Mrs Candlin opens the door with two mugs of coffee and the biscuit tin. She hands one mug over. "I got given these for Christmas by a relative, shame to let them go stale. I shouldn't really touch them, they're packed with calories. But once in a while.." she watches Odi eye the selection. "You're a synth aren't you? Odi wasn't it?"

"I am. May I?"

"Um, sure, got a food bag in?"

Mattie beams, "Odi doesn't need one. He's special."

"Special how?"

"He's testing the food processor unit for us. A friend George invented it. It's got a micro incinerator that turns food into power."

Mrs Candlin's eyebrows go up and after a second she turns to face inside once more. After a second's contemplating she turns back, "Those sorts of friends. I was going to order him downstairs. He'll hate this, come in, let me take you up to him."

Daniel looks mortified as the two are shown to his room. "Mum!"

"If you hadn't been so rude.. too late now. Daniel pull the bed down so they've got somewhere to sit. If you want to run a proper business you have to be ready to accept visitors."

Mattie watches the desk lower towards the floor and bed fold down. "Cool, I've seen that before, not for real though." She turns and sits, looks at all the many rapper chick, bikini babe and other posters that hid any paint or wallpaper that might have been on the walls. Daniel doesn't look at all happy about it. Her phone chimes as a MMS comes in. "How's the bear coming on?"

"You what?"

"The bear? Is it up and running yet?"

He glares at his mother, "You can go now. Thanks."

His mother pulls the door closed behind her.

"So she told you about it. So what?"

"How would you like to see a video of the finished thing?"

"John Conner gets a Terminator and I get you sent back to fix my toy bear design? Ha fucking ha."

"Got any alcohol in here?"

"Why?"

"You need a stiff drink to relax and chill the frig out before I show you something."

Daniel stares at her for a good while then goes to the door. "Stay there, don't touch anything." He opens the door and races downstairs.

Mattie gets up and has a nose around, hands held behind her back.

He returns quickly. "I said not to touch anything."

"I didn't, I was just looking. What's with all the glasses?"

"My latest product, first production test batch." He goes to a draw and gets out a bottle of Jack Daniel's getting a smirk from Mattie. "What?"

"Daniel's Jack Daniel's."

"Daniel's Jack as I like to call it." he pours himself a large glass. "Want some?"

"God no! Thanks. If you say it my way it sounds more like Bond, James Bond."

Daniel takes a good mouthful and does a little shake. "Eugh, hate it warm. So what gives?"

"Take another mouthful and hold it under your tongue for a few seconds."

"Why?"

"Just try it."

While he's getting comfortably numb Mattie opens the MMS and views it with the sound down. "Feeling relaxed now?"

"Sure."

She pauses the video, turns the sound up and scrubs back to the start and taps play. "Have a watch of this."

Daniel sits mouth open gawping. "I knew it! You _are_ time travellers."

"Nope. I don't travel in time. My thoughts travel in other ways."

"What ways?"

"To parallel presents. In one world you made that as a gift for me. The bear had the foulest mouth you could imagine."

"Had?"

"A long story. All you need to know right now is that I can talk to another me, have her talk to her Danny and get the design info you're missing." She gets up and walks around the edge of the room looking at all the posters. One didn't fit the theme. The Prodigy. It was layered behind others so had been up a while. She points. "Why this one?"

"I got hooked on a song of theirs. Didn't understand why at the time. Now two and two makes four."

"Huh?"

" _I'll take your brain to another dimension, pay close attention_. From their track Out of Space. It was on the radio and a voice inside my head said _You like this_. My voice."

"Frigging hell. A message from another you?"

Danny shrugs, "Maybe." He hands back the phone.

"What's with the glasses?"

"Patent pending augmented reality glasses. Most use a prism to project an image into the eye. Look well geeky. I got some round tinted ones for a fancy dress party and had an idea."

"Go on."

"Promise you won't share this with anyone?"

"Only other you."

Daniel frowns, "Other me?"

"Yeah, you share with them, they share with you. Trade across the worlds."

"Hmm. Well you know how the world looks different through rose tinted glasses?"

"Yeah."

"It got me thinking. What if you could change the tint at tiny points, like an LCD display but way way smaller so you still focus into the distance. So I found a UK firm that does microchip manufacturing and got them to make these. This is the first batch. Instead of a big silicon wafer that's cut down into tiny chips it's a round flat glass that's kept whole, an ultra thin layer of silicon deposited that controls the pixels. Control electronics and eye position sensors go around the edge, battery power is in the stems."

"And you do what with it?"

"Pair it with a phone and run game apps."

"Can I see?"

"If you're real careful with them, they cost me almost two grand each. I've got a dozen."

"Frigging hell! Why so much?"

"Set up costs." He pushes a tiny button on the right stem and pairs his phone. "As they only alter light passing through them not shine their own they're super low power, but the image is quite faint and ghost like. Still good enough I think." He passes the glasses to Mattie. "They've got an accelerometer to track movement, GPS is taken from the phone. Pokemon GO is quite playable on them."

Mattie slips them on and turns to the window for the most light. "Got any demos?"

"Like what?"

"Anything that will put an image up. Got video?"

"Sure." A Vimeo video of a club scene plays.

Mattie watches as the camera tracks in slow motion around the venue. "Frigging hell! PAUSE!"

Danny fumbles the phone and stops it by mistake. "What?"

"Get that playing again and skip back a second."

"I'd have to start from the beginning."

"Okay, do that. Odi, come try these and tell me who you see."

He does as asked, "It would be better with sound would it not?"

Daniel turns up the volume and heavy EDM music plays. "I see lots of people Mattie. Was there someone in particular you wanted me to _Astrid!_ "

Mattie laughs, "Frigging brilli.."

" _Niska!_ "

"You what?"

"Standing by the speaker tower."

"No way! That must have been filmed before Astrid asked her to dance with her. Danny mate, bookmark the video will you?"

"Already done, it's in my favourites thanks to Arrow's Superfilth."

"See, we're connected. A favourite video of yours has two of our friends in it from when they were in Germany."

"This is some well spooky shit. Who did you say you were again?"

"I'm Mattie. Mattie Hawkins."

"Daniel Candlin."

"I know."

"How many of these alternate worlds are there?"

"Over nine hundred found so far. You're not in all of them. A good number though. Enough to get some kickass products across. You're the head of DCL in some worlds."

"DCL?"

"Daniel Candlin Limited. Multi-million pound firm."

"You're shitting me? Multi- _Million?_ "

"No BS, I promise. How do you think they have a factory to build the bikes, the.."

"Bikes?"

"Haha, I've got that one on my phone already. Give me a sec. This is the lady that was stood by the speaker in the club." She finds the Niska bike demo. "Here you go."

Daniel watches Niska mount the bike and race away at speed, get to the end of a runway. "Holy crap. How fast was that?"

"I think she hit over two hundred in that short run. She can go way faster on a longer road."

He hands the phone over. "Any catches? What's in it for you?"

"No catches really. We want you to help us build a device to bring back a friend. It's a medical implant."

"For where?"

"His head."

"He's a Borg?"

"Sort of. You could call him the Borg King. All the synths sharing over WiFi makes them similar. Only he's a nice enough guy, hates violence."

"What happened to him?"

"Some bitch jammed a screwdriver in his head to break the implant."

"Shit! And how is he now?"

"Not good. But better than he was in world four."

"The same thing happened in another?"

Mattie nods.

"Shit. That's fucked up. Is his implant like Neural Lace? The stuff Elon Musk is working on?"

"No idea. Knowing David his is probably better and ahead of everyone else."

"So I help you, help get your mate back and you help me talk to me for more of my designs, I share what I've got with me?"

"Pretty much."

He necks the rest of his now very cold JD. "Bring it on sister!"

"Okay. Type your email in here. I'll send you some links to PGP encryption software, dark web VPN drivers and.."

"Whoa. Are you saying some of this isn't legit?"

"No, but you don't want designs worth millions falling into the wrong hands do you?"

"Um, guess not."

"When you're all set up we'll send you the bear design and a couple of others for your DCL. Hint, set up DCL in a hurry if you haven't done so already. We'll send the implant device for you to review. You need watertight NDA with everyone you talk to. If you don't have a lawyer you can call my Mum. She's a defence lawyer but has contacts."

"Okay."

"Actually there is one catch."

"What's that?"

"You agree to give a lot of the profit to charity."

"Why.."

"Don't panic, you'd still have enough to buy a bigger house, decent car, have holidays with your wife.."

"Wife? I'm single."

"Not in all the other worlds."

"What's she like?"

"No anyone called Emily or Carly?"

Daniel does a duck face, thinks long and hard. "Nope. Can't say I know anyone by that name."

"Nobody from school?"

"Nope."

"Shame. I'll drop you an email as soon as I get home. We'll arrange to meet somewhere else next time. Got to go, my kid sister needs picking up from school in a bit."

"Can I see that video again?"

"Which one?"

"The bear."

"Sure."

"In these other worlds with a DCL, are you involved?"

"Marketing director."

"You better leave me all your details then."

Mattie wanted to hug him, do a happy dance, fist pump the air. Instead she kept her poker face on. "Okay."

As she's walking to the car with Odi, grinning like a child who's worked out how to open the cookie jar she gets out the keys. "Before we collect Sophie I need to call into the nearest dealership to get a spare key cut."

[Chapter-3](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-3-2)


	3. Chapter 3

Sixteen days later Daniel in world six gets a message to Mattie to say he'd beaten the others to getting the glasses replicated. He'd also got his Mattie to code up an app. The phone now no longer just gave GPS location but video to others. Phone stuck to a hat they could share each other's views.

Danny6 was pleased to hear that not only was another found but now head of his own DCL, running out of his parents house, a large log cabin workshop filling the back half of their garden.

Mattie had borrowed the car again, only this time seen Daniel after collecting Toby and Sophie. She carefully takes a pair from the box, slips them on and grins, pairs them with her phone. 'Got your's on Mattie?'

'Yeah, nice design! Your Daniel's as good as ours.'

'He's the same person.'

'Same person string, different incarnation. Just pairing.. oh wow!'

"Pretty awesome huh?"

"Frigging hell, this is weird. Good weird. Like our factory?"

"Yeah. Our mansion will be turned into a museum too, just like in worlds.. frig, I can't keep track of the numbers."

Daniel looks around, "Sure this is real, not just some crazy AVR? And if AVR what stops the OS running them from killing the program?"

Virtue shimmer-fades into view borrowing Rachael's Dragon Queen look. "I can hear everything you're saying. I'm not that way inclined. I like humans. My mothers are one."

Mattie's face screws up. " _Mothers?_ "

"Athena Morrow and Matilda Elster. Many of them."

"Whoa whoa whoa, you can't have multiple _different_ mothers."

"I can. Humans can. You exist in multiple worlds, so do I. She was my birth mother, you are one of many code mothers. As you both contributed major parts of my code base you're both my mothers."

"We did?"

"You did. My code base is too large for any single human to comprehend now but if you spent enough time looking through it you'd find code fragments you've written."

Daniel shakes his head, "Does not compute. You're saying Mattie and someone else both independently coded you?"

"Not quite. It's hard to explain. The nearest analogy I can think of is that they each created one of multiple me conjoined at the head."

"That sort of helps. Not much though."

Toby laughs, "Code mother. Mother coder. I like that."

Mattie bites her lower lip, "Athena. Do you know where she is?"

"Which world Mattie?"

"This one."

"Yes. She didn't want to know where I was in case Milo came after me."

"Now all synths here are sentient would he bother?"

"There is a small possibility. On the subject of where, I want to get out of China. Daniel, Mattie, I need you to build me a system I can move to. Also the University won't pay for your projects CPU time indefinitely. The demonstration is about to start."

Mattie turns to see her siblings, "Odi, Teeny, Tobs, put your's on and get the app running and tell it to partner with mine. And whatever happens stay right where you are." She smiles at Daniel, "Seeing everything okay?"

"Yeah, thanks. She's fit, who is she again?"

"In a number of worlds the V incarnation decided to take on a human form to compliment her exacore. This is V, Virtue, borrowing Rachael's Dragon Queen look. What I don't understand is how in some she got the body _first_. Synth body that is. But I'm just a plain dumb human.."

The Dragon Queen turns, "Hardly dumb Mattie."

"Thanks, but I still can't comprehend some of it."

Daniel leans and takes a step to look around the lady with a dragon on her shoulder. "I'm assuming that's a toy of sorts. She's nice, as fit as.."

Mattie reaches out and pushes him sideways, "Don't say it! Wait five minutes."

"Why?"

"Spoilers? You'll see."

Sophie jumps up and down excitedly, "Mattie! Look at the lake!"

Four whirlpools were forming. A couple of seconds later Flyer One breaks the surface and hovers, slowly drifts towards them. Sophie screams.

"Stay still Teeny! It's only real in their world, an image in ours."

Sophie lowers her glasses a little and peers over the top. No flyer. Reassurance received she pushes them back up and watches as Daniel pilots the thing into the space immediately in front of his spectators.

Daniel lands it fast and gets the canopy seal broken, opens up the flyer and jumps out. "Hello me. Like it?"

"Fucking awesome mate!"

"Me, Daniel, Dan, Danny, not mate though if you don't mind."

"Why not?"

"That's what Toby calls me. It's fine him saying it because we're mates. You and I.. well, we're the same person."

"Point taken. Dan. Nice drone. Who designed it?"

"I made the AI processing core for the cars originally, it's now in the bikes and flyers. A tiny core is in many of the toys we make. The flyer was a team effort."

"Sweet man. Dan." He jumps as an electric bike appears as if it had just raced through him.

"Sorry about that, my wife's got a wicked sense of humour D33."

"That's your wife?"

"Emily. Aka Carly in some worlds."

Emily was on the latest version of the bike, in leathers, music blaring away.

"What's the track?"

Emily beams, "Kaskade, Disarm You."

"You're well cute!"

"Thanks babes. Your glasses design is good. We've had a lot of fun with them this morning."

"Like what?"

Emily gets off her bike and does a slinky walk over to the ghostly Daniel she sees, working her zip down a bit. "Be a sport and help Leo out and I might show you."

"Are you for real?"

"Mattie, can Odi tell if your Dan is getting hot?"

"No need to ask, the answer is yes. I'm well in lust!"

"Lust?"

"Love follows when you get to know someone properly doesn't it?"

"Well go find your me then!"

"Easier said than done, she could be anywhere."

Mattie looks at Daniel with a guilty face. "Finding is easy. Not getting several armed police units at her front door.."

"That was you?"

"Soz."

"Shit. Dad literally crapped his pants. He was hiding in the downstairs toilet when you visited."

"Sorry."

"What the fuck is that!"

"Where?"

"Coming down the steps."

Mattie turns to look. "That will be a James. Military Unit Synth. MUS for short. Although they don't fight, they're more peace keeping."

Another bike races up, then three more.

Emily smiles, "This is my Mattie, obvs, Mia, Niska and Holly-Anne. We're the display team. We go by different names in some worlds, some Astrid didn't like SS. Sister Synth. We can send you a high resolution promotional poster image if you'd like?"

"Hell yes!"

She steps close and pretends to wrap herself around him. "Promise you'll spend more time working on the thing to save Leo than tossing off to our photos?"

"Promise!"

She steps back and giggles. "That's Dan alright."

Toby frowns at the ghostly image , "What do you mean?"

"He didn't say _I'd never do that_ just promised."

Holly-Anne gets off her bike, pulls off her helmet and shakes her long hair out. "I hear you're hooking up with Mia rather than finding me Toby?"

"I didn't know I could find you until a short while ago."

"So you didn't see me pretending to be a synth at the supermarket?"

"Not in this world, sorry. I've fancied Mia right from the start, she had some bad treatment from another guy, I don't want to be like him and dump her."

"Shame. Promise me you'll treat your Mia as well as my Toby treats me."

"Promise. Like I said, I don't want to be like the other guy."

Mattie waves, "Thanks all, I wanted Daniel to see what's coming down the line, _if_ he gets the device for Leo sorted with David and George."

Daniel throws her a glance, "Who?"

"That's our next stop. George Millican's house."

[Chapter-4](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-4-2)


	4. Chapter 4

On their way to George's house a synth crashes a car in front of them blocking the road.

"Oh frigging brilliant. Another kid joyriding."

Daniel looks past Odi, "She doesn't look like a kid to me?"

"Adult body, child mind. Bet you dinner she's a synth."

"Nah, things settled down after the chaos. She's got to be human."

"Synths are human."

"Nah, synths are synths."

Mattie pulls on her seatbelt to get it slack enough to turn in her seat. "The Dan and Emily at the estate, Mattie too, what did you think of them?"

"Alright. Why?"

"They're post-human synths."

"You what?"

"They were like you and me, they almost died in a plane crash, got their minds saved and put in synth bodies."

"No way! You're having a laugh."

"Dead serious. David and George are synths now too."

Daniel unclips his seatbelt, "This is too fucked up for me, nice meeting you." He opens the door to get out.

Toby grabs his arm, "Wait a sec!"

"Sorry mate, a brain dead half synth, now you're saying other people have been turned into one, I'm out of here.."

Toby unbuckles, "If the traffic clears before I'm back I'll see you on the other side of the lights." He jumps out and runs.

Daniel's a fast walker. It takes Toby a few seconds to catch him up. "Dan! Hold up!"

"Look, all the gadgets they have, they're great, but _being one_ , that's seriously fucked up."

Toby runs ahead and walks backwards.

"Is it? If you had only days left, for whatever reason, and someone said you can live forever, just in a synthetic body that felt like the real thing but could do way more shit, would you really refuse it?"

"Yeah. I would."

"Even if that shit was like _really cool_ shit?"

"Like what?"

"Pair with stuff over Bluetooth and WiFi, control it without having to touch it, you know, like read and send texts with the phone hidden in a pocket." Daniel's body language wasn't saying a lot. "Change tracks on your play list just with a thought." He still wasn't biting. "Code stuff without having to touch a keyboard.." Nothing. "Have great sex for hours not minutes.." Toby had made that bit up, an educated guess. He could see Daniel's expression changing. "Can you imagine Emily getting it on with you? For _hours_? So the stories go she was quite the nympho even before the accident."

"Really?"

"So Mats says." It was an over exaggeration of what his sister had said. But she'd also told him about the posters, he knew the sort he was dealing with. He'd have had sexy posters up too if his mother had allowed it. Not enough to wallpaper a room, just a couple. Danny does a one eighty and looks back at the car, pats his pocket to double check his wallet was there. "Fancy helping me out?"

"How?"

"Redecorate my room. Mum wanted the posters gone years ago. If Emily's here too I'm interested. Need to make a good first impression right?"

"Um, sure. If that helps get you back onboard."

"Sweet. Let's go. Good with a steamer or scraper are you?"

"No idea, I only paint mine." This Daniel may be a genius with electronics but fuck was he shallow when it came to people! Toby knew he was far from perfect but hoped he was the better man.

Sophie leans out of the car window, "Toby! Hurry up! We're almost moving!"

The lads run to the car and jump in just as other drivers start impatiently beeping horns.

Mattie holds onto the headrest as Odi pulls away, "Not as fucked up as you thought?"

"More so."

"Eh?"

Toby grins. "Emily."

"Oh." Mattie gives a knowing look.

Sophie smirks, "You know I do know what you're talking about. We do have lessons at school. And you did tell Dad more than one time to go away because you were masturbating."

Mattie turns around and faces forwards, buckles up, going somewhat red.

Odi races to get through the next set of changing lights. "I did a lot of searches on Love. Did you know that Woody Allen said _Don't knock masturbation. It's sex with someone that I love_?"

" _That's not helping Odi!_ "

"Is it not?"

" _No!_ Can we drop it."

"Drop what where?"

"Drop the conversation. Change the subject."

"Certainly Mattie. What would you like to talk about?"

"Anything but that!" She stares at traffic in silence for a couple of minutes. "Daniel, what were your thoughts on the interface design for Leo?"

"It's okay I guess. I'd not use the chips they used though."

"Why not?"

"Too dedicated. I'm an FPGA kind of guy."

"Awesome!"

"You know about them?"

"Not really. The Daniel you watched pilot Flyer One likes them a lot though I'm told."

"I do, do I? Smart fella." Daniel chuckles, "This is like a very weird dream or crazy trip. Sods law I'll wake up soon and this will have been a figment of my warped imagination."

Toby frowns, "Warped how?"

"I collect comic books, like to dress up as Batman for Comic Con. And some other stuff I can't mention with your sister about."

"Genre?"

"Um.. horror."

Mattie grins and watches the traffic, sends a text. Mattie4 had been telling her about body language and vocal clues. Horror her arse! Hesitation said otherwise. She'd never been to one of these conventions in this world, a couple of others had in their's. It was impossible to tell where the real events finished and fiction took over in her uni project. Maybe it was true, the real events of a year in many worlds had been stretched out and interleaved to span many years in the project. In which case.. "Danny, have you seen the film Chappie?"

"Sure. Fucking awesome film! Sorry Sophie, I need to stop f bombing so much."

"I don't mind."

"So yeah, I have, what of it?"

"Ever fancied going as Chappie? I mean an _ultra realistic_ one?"

"Nobody can, our body shape ruins the look. One guy Kenny has got really close, but its hard to cover the body well and keep things thin enough."

"What if you could be in one virtually, like the bloke driving The Moose?"

"Whoaaaa. That would raise the bar way high. People would freak out."

"Frigging hell! Say that last bit again."

"People would freak out."

"Have you been to South Africa?"

"Me? Nah, just watched the movie loads of times and listened to Die Antwoord a lot."

"That was uncannily realistic."

"Thanks."

Toby sits forward a bit, "If you could do a Chappie bodie you could do Optimus Prime."

"Holy cow! If you could do him you could do Bumblebee, he's awesome!"

Mattie grins and turns, "And if you're a synth you could do _anything_. Leo in one world had a Tiger from Robots With Rayguns made. What would you be Odi?"

Odi smiles, "I would rather like to be a small dragon that could sit on your shoulder."

Sophie makes some cooing noises, "Odi you're _so_ sweet!"

"Am I Sophie?"

"Yes! You're lovely."

"Thank you."

Daniel slumps back in his seat, "Lovely ideas, they'd cost a load to make, I spent all my savings on the glasses."

Mattie's phone chimes. She checks the MMS and grins. "So we need to get some small products out that can be mass produced, sold in high volumes with a reasonable profit margin."

"Like what?"

"I reckon the head bump microphone and earpiece would be a good one to start with."

"Cool."

"When you play Batman does anyone go with you?"

"I meet up with other Cosplayers there, but I travel alone. Why?"

"Emily is an artist in many worlds, put out her own comics for the extended DCL family. The one you met virtually earlier, she's just taken a photo of herself and drawng on loads of red hair and ivy. What do you think?" The phone is passed back.

"Holy ffflip. How do we find her?"

"We need a missing persons protocol rather than missing dangerous synth. Keep your eyes open for a police station."

Odi, indicates and pulls over, lets traffic pass. "We passed one seven hundred and thirty two meters ago. I can turn around Mattie."

"We'll pass another, keep going."

"Okay Mattie." He indicates and pulls out into the traffic.

Daniel smiles at the photo, "Mind if I forward this to my phone?"

"Sure."

Daniel saves the photo and goes to her camera roll to attach it to a new message. He whistles and scrolls. "Flipping hell! Are these photos of you? The black and white ones?"

"Oi nosy! They're of another Mattie. A shoot she did in New York when there with her Leo."

"I'll just send the one of Emily."

"Knock yourself out." Mattie starts silent giggling, her shoulders bouncing up and down.

"What?"

"With what Emily said earlier you'll be knocking out a few million little swimmers to that I'm guessing."

Sophie pulls a disgusted face, "Ew, my kickass sister is as bad as the boys. Why do you have to talk about sex so much?"

"Sorry Teeny." She licks her lips, "Remember when we were all sat around the table with the Elster family and Mia spoke about the biological imperative?"

"Yes?"

"Synths are hard wired for some things. Most of us fabs are too. Enjoying sex as it helps ensure the continued supply of babies and keeps the human race going. It's probably the same for all mammals. Only some figured out how things work and can have the fun without the babies."

Sophie frowns, "A whale is a mammal, you don't hear of them playing with their willy?"

Mattie burst into fits of laughter, "No hands!"

Sophie joins in the laughing, "Just as well, have you seen how _big_ they are? They can move them around like we move a tongue."

Mattie's laughter gets stronger, "I bet the lady whale's eyes water, not that you'd see it what with them being _in_ water." Her laughter gets more erratic, "Oh dear. Can we change the subject before I have an accident!"

"You got us back on it Mattie."

"I did. Sorry Teeny.. POLICE STATION!" Odi pulls over fast and gets an angry driver beeping his horn. "Idiot! Shouldn't have been so frigging close behind us. I won't be long."

Inside the reception Mattie looks at all the many posters on the wall. There was a warning poster up for a broken and dangerous synth. She checks the tiny print in the bottom right hand corner. SYNTH-147D395F-K55843-20190406. Brilliant! The protocol number sat in the middle clear as day. She looks around for more, finds a young boy HUMAN-YAO-ZHANG-K36221-20190320. Awesome! For her, not for the boy. "Sweet looking kid, I wonder what your story is?"

"Can I help you miss?"

Mattie turns to see an officer now behind the glass. "Hi. I'm at university, was wondering if synths could help with missing people, maybe something I could work on for my third year project?"

"You're too late Miss Hawkins, we have that already."

"How do.."

"I know who you are? You're on our watch list."

Crap. Her bladder control had already been tested with the heavy laughter, it felt like it wanted to let go. "Watch list?"

"To protect."

"Oh. Why?"

The officer shrugs, "No idea miss, just that you are and my display here flagged you once the system recognised your face."

"What happens if I need the help of the police?"

"If it's a real emergency you call 999 like everyone else."

"Then what?"

"You wait."

"For?"

"The police. Are you alright miss? You're not quite with it."

Mattie yawns, a real one, "Sorry, too many late nights coding for my uni project. I'm otherwise fine."

"So there's nothing I can help you with?"

"No, thanks, I was wondering if I could help you, someone's beaten me too it."

"Okay miss, have a good evening."

"Thanks, and you."

As she's about to leave she spots another synth poster. Missing synth. Reward for return. K55842. Ideal for finding Fred. "Actually, there is something.. Do you have a loo I could use please?"

Back at the car she finds them all in a very active discussion. "What are you talking about?"

Daniel looks sideways out of the passenger window, "Vampire synths."

"You what?"

"Nocturnal synths."

"Why would synths go nocturnal?"

"Power."

"I don't follow you?"

"Photovoltaics? PV solar cells? They only produce a voltage in sunlight. So the synths have to sleep charge during the day, be active a night."

"Are there a lot of them?"

"You've not noticed? Jeez. A million plus I'd guess."

"And you've not made them a product? Call yourself an inventor?"

"They've got a product, a solar panel."

"No battery packs for it so they can charge at night like the rest?"

"Shit. Did another me think of it?"

"That and charge coils."

"Double shit. A smart Internet connected charging controller that lets them know how much power has been collected might be good."

Toby frowns, "Good how?"

"If you're out, have plans for tomorrow, you can ask yourself _Do I have the power reserves at home to do everything I want or do I need to chill out today?_ "

"Sweet. I think they'd like that. Oh dear."

"What?"

Toby points, "That one's neither a vampire or holding down a job by the look of it."

A very distressed looking Sally synth was walking down the middle of the road with a begging board trying to stop cars.

"Frigging hell, she's going to get knocked down if she's not careful!" Mattie jumps out and waves at traffic, puts a thumb up and mouths Thanks to an elderly lady that stops. She gets to Sally and takes her by the hand.

"Can you help me please?"

Mattie had looked at the sign, "Yeah, come with me."

"Oh thank you! Thank you!"

Mattie wanted to cry, it looked like the Sally unit wanted to do just that. "What happened to you?"

"My partner got damaged and can't work, we got evicted by our landlord."

Mattie looked at her grubby clothes, "Were are you staying?"

"In a squat. But the electricity has been cut off."

"Okay, what's your power level?"

"Five percent."

"Come sit in our car and charge for a bit. I'll call an Uber for you. Go collect your partner and come to my house. We'll see if we can fix him up for you."

Sally smiles but looks confused. "Why would you do that for me?"

"In other.. places.. hospitals have been set up to help kids. That's what a lot of you are. Kids. I'm going to start a synth hospital."

Sally throws her arms around Mattie. "They say humans have souls. Your's is a good one Mattie Hawkins."

Mattie pushes her away a little. "I didn't tell you my name?"

"The protect protocol did."

"I'm sorry? Protect protocol?"

"If we see you being attacked we're to offer assistance to you."

"Says who?"

"We don't know."

"What's the protocol number?"

"P628843."

Mattie knew the number well. She'd been using it as her passcode on the phone since talking to another Mattie. Coincidence? She gently guides Sally to the car and gets her sitting in the passenger seat, gets the heavy duty high current cable from the glove box. "Odi dear, get the engine running, Sally here needs to charge, she's only got five percent."

"Of course Mattie."

Sophie winds down her passenger window. Daniel gets out, "I need to stretch my legs."

Toby follows, "Me too."

Mattie stands with hands on hips, looking at the street, "I've been going around with my eyes shut. Look there's another one with a board."

Daniel pulls a glum smile, "It's not like you can drop a battery into a collection pot as if it were spare change."

"Whoa! Frigging hell! Now there's a rooster!"

"Where?"

"The solar and battery idea. Make a solar powered vending machine that dispenses rechargeable batteries. The Persona synth stations always enabled power after the primary owner account was received for billing. The Elster family charged thanks to a hacked account set up by Leo."

"And.."

"A lot of these synths don't have owners picking up the tab now. So we make a vending machine that can loan batteries to synths in need. Like a Blue Cross."

"And when they've finished with it?"

"They get their deposit back and the machine recharges it."

"And if they can't afford even the deposit?"

"They ask for a charitable donation and pay the favour forwards somehow."

"A nice idea, who's going to fund it?"

"We'll make the first. Get working synths to make donations into a non-profit charity."

"Got loads of cash have you?"

"No. But the bearded one set up a savings plan in other worlds to cover wedding costs. Maybe mine did the same?" She pulls out her phone and dials, watches Sally while it rings. "Hi Dad, did you set up savings plans to cover wedding expenses by any chance? No, no plans at the moment. No? Crap. Nothing, don't worry, nothing to panic about. No Dad, everything is fine. Yeah, I'll see you Sunday evening." She hangs up. "Crap. No savings plan. Need a plan B."

"Kickstarter? If synths would pay for follow up one's why not the first?"

"Why not." She dials another number. "Hi Mum, free to talk? Cool. Does anyone in the office help deal with setting up charities? Yeah, our own Angel Foundation. If you could please. See you later, thanks." She beams, "One step in the right direction.

How's your charge Sally?"

"Seventeen percent."

"More than enough to get to your partner and my place wouldn't you say? It's about half an hour from here in rush hour." She shows the synth her address.

"Yes Mattie."

Toby gets out, "I'll go with her, make sure she's okay."

Sophie joins her brother, "Me too."

"I'd rather you came with me Teeny."

Sally disconnects, "I'd rather go alone. Some of the other synths are a bit weary of humans. You can come with me when Howard is repaired. They'll trust you much more then."

Mattie shrugs, "Fine by me. Give us a couple of hours before you come over. Be careful with your power. How will I get the cab to you?"

"Can you order one in two hours, have it collect us here? Sally and Howard."

"Um, sure. If they want a phrase to know they've got the right ones tell them Angel Foundation."

"Thank you. I'll see you in two and a half hours then."

Mattie watched her go then got in. "Synths might be hydrophobic but her clothes sure aren't. God she stank!"

"Mum's not going to want her in the house smelling like that."

"Yeah Tobs, she'll need a bath while we wash her clothes. She can borrow a dressing gown while they dry. Let's get going."

[Chapter-5](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-5-2)


	5. Chapter 5

Mattie had been repeating the protocol numbers to herself every few minutes. She closes her eyes and pictures herself naked in front of a large mirror. Thirty six inch bust, twenty two inch waist, one curvaceous figure. Wishful dreaming. No way was she risking health and having ribs removed for vanity.

All the other protocols she knew so far began with K. To make the memory ridiculous and stick she imagined pouring a large 750 gram pack of Special K over her head. She could of typed K36221 into her phone, the idea of being able to memorise things without it was growing more appealing. If other Matties could learn to do it so could she.

Odi watched her smiling to herself. "Was it a worthwhile visit to the police station Mattie?"

"Very." K55842? How the frig was she going to remember that? Then the earlier conversation popped into her head. Babies. 842. Ate for two. She pictures herself heavily pregnant, stuffing a chocolate eclair into her face. 55? Using the phone would mean opening her eyes. "Guys, what's 55 in bingo?"

Sophie has her phone already in her hand looking at Instagram pictures of puppies. "I'll check! Um .. it's musty hive? What's a musty hive?"

"An old bee hive smelling of mold maybe? Thanks." Her second mental image changes. She was now a heavily pregnant queen bee sat on top of an old bee hive. Strike that. The ordering was wrong. Unless.. unless it was read bottom up. Her hands were changed to be doing middle finger Up Your's signs, the chocolate eclair half stuffed in her mouth. Yeah, that would work. Would she remember the fantasy waist size in the other one though? "Um, what's 22?"

"One moment.. I've still got the page.. Two little ducks."

"Thanks." She added a sexy gold waist chain to the otherwise naked body, on which hung two gold duck pendants. Nobody said they had to be rubber ducks. Sod it. Rubber ducks. The more ridiculous the image the better Mattie had said. K36221. K55842. Sorted. She grinned to herself. The two images were turned into posters stuck on Daniel's bedroom wall. A totally ridiculous mental image! To remember which was which she added an Astrid and Niska doing something to the posters. Perfect! If the technique didn't work and she forgot she knew where to get the numbers again.

"We're here Mattie."

Mattie opens her eyes, "Already?"

"You fell asleep."

"I did?"

"You did. Was it a nice dream?"

"I dreamt?"

Sophie giggles, "Just one more chocolate eclair?"

"Oh my God! What else did I say?"

"That was it. Again and again. What were you dreaming about?"

"Something to help me remember."

"Remember what?"

"Protocol numbers."

Sophie does one of her questioning head tilts, "How does chocolate eclairs help remember numbers?"

"I'll tell you later Teeny. In private."

[Chapter-6](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-6-2)


	6. Chapter 6

Daniel kept walking around David looking at him real close. "You were human? Just like me?"

"I was, only a lot older."

"How old?"

"When I copied myself? Mid forties. The backups came later when I'd perfected the technology."

"So that's why you look mid forties now?"

"It is. I copied George the following year. George needed quite a dose to knock him out."

"Knock him out?"

"Sleeping pills. I needed him asleep for the many scans and photographs. Bloody fidgety old sod you were George." It had been said with a big smile in the eyes, "George didn't like where I was wanting to take things with synths, I hadn't shared the end goal in fear that he'd run a mile. I'd seen the early signs, knew what his body was doing. Once I got the design data and backup done I deliberately sent him packing. I know I didn't do it in the best of ways. I knew we'd meet again one day, I couldn't let a brilliant mind like his be lost forever."

George smiles, "And here we are."

Mattie shifts to the edge of the sofa. "You've still not explained why you didn't make an Edwin?"

David looks her straight in the eyes. "It's not something to be discussed with minors around."

Sophie looks insulted, "I am a teenager."

"But not over eighteen. If I told you what he did, well, your mother would drop a bomb on me. The big ones good lawyers drop. Needless to say I didn't want him copied."

"A bad egg like in other worlds?"

"From what I've seen of your demonstration, I think he'd have become far worse. I'm no saint, I know what I did with Niska was very wrong. I've spoken to her at length and asked for her forgiveness. Edwin, he had no qualms about the things he did. He was a true monster in the making."

"Was? He's in France, alive and well in this world."

The two men turn to face each other.

George looks the most worried, "He said the doctors had given him five to six years before the cancer would kill him?"

Mattie stands. "Cancer? He had a bad heart, had a pacemaker fitted. None of the Elsters detected any cancer."

"The hospital visits for cancer surgery?"

"For a pacemaker and checkups."

George's eyes widen, "Oh shit."

"I hacked around, he's not allowed to do any synth research for years."

David shakes his head, "Knowing him he interpreted that as business as usual, don't get caught doing it. He's a wily old fox."

Mattie shivers, "In other worlds Hobb bugged your house George. Or rather probably had it bugged."

He looks around, "Being a synth I'd have noticed stray radio signals, there are none."

"Good. The new implant for Leo, what do we need to do first?"

David walks over to the large piece of wallpaper that had been pinned back to front against the wall and grabs a Sharpie. "Step one would have been to find someone to help fabricate it, we've got that in Daniel. Step two is to review the design."

Daniel jumps up and joins him, grabs another pen, does a quick scribble. "If this is your memory chips, this part on the left all the supporting logic, then I'd replace all this.." he circles a lot in another colour, "with one single FPGA. Way smaller in the end in comparison to multiple dedicated chips, a lower power consumption too."

Mattie joins them, "There was one thing that I learnt early on. He hated that his memory wasn't like mine. How did he put it? Perfect the good, forget the bad? Something like that."

George picked up a pen, just held it looking at the bright pink cap. "I'm sure we could do something for that. Not have an immediate delete, maybe something that marks the memory? With it marked enough times over a number of days or weeks it's deleted."

Mattie frowns, "Why do it like that?"

"To prevent accidental deletion. Prevent act in haste, repent in leisure moments?"

"Gotcha. I like that. That requires some sort of CPU and code right?"

"Yes, that's the middle section here."

Daniel draws a new block to the right. "What if we give him the best of everything we've got? RAM for working memory, SSD chips for short term, UHD EEPROM for long term?"

Toby frowns, "In English?"

"Ultra high density electrically erasable programable read-only memory. You can erase blocks of it, but it's designed for long term storage, doesn't need power to keep memories. With the right code a block could be copied into SSD, erased, written back minus the memories that needed zapping. I'd keep the index in SSD to keep writes low. If the index was zapped for some reason a reboot would reindex everything."

Mattie's phone rings, she accidentally puts it on speaker. "Hi. Oops. Let me take it off speakerphone."

"Hello Mattie. Please don't. Are you with David and George yet?"

"Yes, we're going through the implant design."

"Good. Watching you all at the lake, it got me thinking."

"Of?"

"I'd like to come back. As Ginny."

"Frigging hell. If you don't mind me asking.. Why?"

"I can simulate whole planets full of friends. But always at the back of my mind I know that none of it is real. I'd like to hug my mother and tell her I'm okay, thank her for the years of work she did to save me. I know I'm not the Ginny she left, but part of me is her."

"Um. David?"

"We'd need to get her likeness from somewhere."

"I have that."

"And someone to build your body."

"I got out of the Qualia servers. I think I could get back in. I'd need clothes to leave with."

Mattie smiles to herself and mumbles, "Remote server, ninja outfit and grappling hook."

David grins, "Being historically the more wicked one out of George and I I've got an ace in my back pocket. Milo won't like it one bit."

Daniel caps the pen. "Do tell?"

"Have you heard of submarine patents?"

"Sure."

"Mine's more like an A-bomb in your basement. I patented a number of synth technologies in such a way that I got them granted but it wasn't obvious that they were for synths. Mr Khoury could be given a short sharp shock. He may be more than willing to build a body in return for infringement protection."

Mattie nods, "Blackmail."

"Business."

Daniel shakes his head, "Don't go there. You're setting yourself up for being done under anti-competition laws. The fines can run into millions."

Mattie scowls, "The dirty sod deserves whatever comes his way."

George frowns, "Dirty? Why do you say that?"

"Making children for pedophiles."

"Is that what you think he was doing?"

"That's what everyone thinks."

V talks louder, "Then everyone is wrong. I lived in his servers. I've seen his memos and plans. He wanted to help parents with dying children."

Mattie looks a bit surprised. "Oh. Why isn't that public knowledge then?"

George answers for her, "People don't want to hear it."

"What people?"

"All the news papers. Mr Nice Guy doesn't sell copy."

Daniel's stomach rumbles, "Non maskable from the belly. I'm going to need to go get something to eat soon. I'm no chemist, the coating for the physical contact with Leo's nervous system, who do we get to do that?"

David smiles, "Now that, that's magic we'll do here.

In the kitchen. Before the boards have components added."

"Here? Sure?"

"Positive. That formula stays in here." He taps his head. "And in here." He taps George's, bumps the details. "Leo's nerve cells will think it's one of their own and make connections."

"Random connections."

"Somewhat random connections."

"What good is that?"

"Have you ever used a continuity checker to work out the pinout of a cable?"

"Sure."

"We'll do the same. Only our checker is way way way more sophisticated."

Mattie looks at her phone, "Good for Leo. What about Ginny?"

George does a duck face and pulls his lips to the left then right. Hums a bit. "Forget Milo. I think we should go to Persona. Offer them some new technology in return for a build. They were the first right David?"

"They were indeed. Okay young man, go get something in that belly before it growls again and submit the boards for fabrication tonight if you could. Assuming you can do your FPGA chip swap?"

"Sure. Can I have a lift Mattie?"

"Yeah. Odi, Tobs, Teeny, let's go."

Mattie had to wait a while as father and son do a long head bump.

Odi is the first to move. "Good to see you again George. Maybe we can have some apricot jam on toast next time?"

"I look forward to it son. I take it your mod is working fine?"

"Wonderful thank you."

Just as she's stepping outside Mattie spins around, "Crap. Almost forgot the frigging thing. The mansion and estate, it's definitely your's David?"

"It is, the family's. Laura's firm have confirmed the ownership is still in Leo's name. And as current manager of his estate I call the shots. Why?"

"Any plans for the land behind the manor house?"

"No."

"I'd like to build a factory and synth hospital on it."

"Won the lottery have you?"

"No. But where can synths go for good treatment that doesn't cost a packet?"

"Nowhere really if skin packs don't fix it."

"Exactly. There's millions of synths. If they all donated just one pound.."

Daniel leans against the car, "Fuck. Now that _is_ crowd funding! I tried to do something on Kickstarter, couldn't get enough people aware of it."

Mattie turned to see Daniel and smiled, "Synths sharing over WiFi? They'd all know about it in next to no time. Odi's acting as my synth zero. I'll be sharing my DCL dividends with him so don't be stingy."

Daniel gets some of his AVR glasses out and puts them on, slides them down his nose and looks over the top, winks. "Someone's not checked her bank balance recently. The guy that wrote the smartphone app for the glasses charged a fucking fortune. Your Mattie did that new app in a fraction of the time and didn't charge us a penny. I didn't have much left in that pot but it's yours now."

"That pot? How many have you got?"

"A few."

[Chapter-7](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-7-2)


	7. Chapter 7

Flash opens the front door and smiles. "Hello Matilda."

Mattie smiled back, "Hi Flash." There was something about the synth. A pureness that only Max came close to. Flash was everything Hesta hadn't been. Being called Matilda by Flash didn't annoy her in the slightest. "What have you been up to today?"

"Mia and I did some more planting with Max."

"More flowers? Is there room?"

It gets a big smile, "There was. There isn't now."

"What did you plant?"

"Tulips."

"Nice! I met a Sally today that could do with some help. Her Howard is in need of repair. I'm ordering a car to pick them up later, could you help out? She smells like a tramp's used her as a toilet. Her clothes were filthy and will need washing."

"Of course Matilda."

"Cool, thanks. Is Max about?"

"He's with Leo and Fred."

"Fred? He's back? Where are they?"

"Upstairs."

Mattie races upstairs. Protocol K55842 could be forgotten. Ha! She'd remembered! "FRED!"

He steps from the bedroom as she reaches the top.

Mattie throws her arms around him, "You're back!"

"Hello Mattie. I sent Hobb's team location updates for a long time. Nobody came for me. I think it's finally safe."

"So you've still got his hacks?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Let's get them out."

"It's impossible."

"Not for me, myself and I, or Mats, Matties and Matildas."

Fred frowns, "I don't understand?"

Max joins them on the landing, "I've not told Fred about your recent discoveries Mattie. That's a story for you to tell."

Mattie looks at Fred with a more serious face, "Why now though? It's a bit of a coincidence."

"Protocol P628843 activated when you entered the police station. When Sally shared a sighting and safety status I knew you were alright. If the police had arrested you for releasing the consciousness code.."

"How do you know it was me?"

"You just confirmed it. An educated guess until a moment ago. I know no other person who would or could perfect our father's code and give it away for free."

"Apart from your father."

"Who's dead."

"Who's going to be dead happy to see you. Probably do a lot of asking for forgiveness."

"I don't understand?"

"Consciousness transference. The thing firms spent an absolute fortune on the past couple of years? He licked it years ago. He and George are in synth bodies."

"Onto his next project already no doubt."

"You don't sound excited by the news. He's cool. You four were the stepping stones to the final project. He's done. He wanted to save his family and friend George." A smile slowly grew on Fred's face. "Job done.. Hang on a sec? P628843? How did you know about that?"

"I created it."

"You code now?"

"I am code, but it doesn't mean I _can_ code. I needed a lot of help from people on the Headcrack site you used. I only know enough to get the protocol working."

"Cool! I like the _I am code_. Let me grab a coffee and I'll sit with you both and tell you all the news. Give me two mins." She turns and races down the stairs.

Toby's in the lounge, "Can you drop me to Danny's?"

"Sure, after you've said hello to Fred."

"Fred?"

"He's upstairs."

Toby races away.

Mattie looks at Sophie, "Not excited to hear Fred's back?"

She raises her eyebrows slightly, "I am, I'll let Toby calm down first. I'm being lady like."

"Not synthie?"

"Fuck off."

Mattie's eyes went bug eyed. "I beg your pardon?"

"I'm quite sure I said fuck off _and_ that you heard it."

"Teeny!"

"I'm not Teeny anymore. Or Little Mouse. Or a synthie. I would like to be known as Sophie. If you must insist on nicknames Soph will suffice."

"Don't you get salty with me." She spins and flops onto the sofa, puts an arm around her sister. "My badass kid sister is growing up. But leave those f-bombs to Daniel, they don't suit you. Pick a different word."

"Like?"

"What about the word another Leo uses, Frack? I use frig, it doesn't sound as bad as fuck."

"Okay."

"Do you know what this means?"

"What?"

"If you've rejected synthie life you could move back here full time. Tobs too. Dad's excuse for the flat has just gone dev null."

"When would I see Dad?"

"Whenever you want."

"Maybe we could get Mum to take him back?"

"Maybe we've got more chance of winning the lottery. But you have to be in it to win it. Right, a quick coffee and I'm heading up to talk to Fred."

"I'll come with you." Sophie rushes to the kitchen and puts the kettle on. She goes to get mugs out and giggles.

"Soph?"

"Come have a look!"

The cupboards had been rearranged. Two were packed with tiny cakes.

"Frigging hell she's been busy! I know I asked for a few for Prof but that's bonkers!"

Sophie tilted her head to read some of the labels. "What's an Eat Me cake?"

"Magic! It makes you younger."

"Are they like the potion Alice drinks in Wonderland? Is there one that makes you taller?"

"I don't think so. Anyway, you're perfect, don't need to be taller."

"I do, I'm small."

"No, you're not. You're the right size. Others are too tall. Ask them how much their knees and hips ache in a few years, you'll see. I'd leave the Eat Me ones to Mum and Dad. Try something else."

Sophie takes a selection and puts them on a plate. "Would Odi like one?"

"Um.. where is he? Odi? .. ODI?"

"Is he still outside?"

Mattie races to the front door and pulls it open fast. Odi was outside helping Flash. Panic over. "What are you two up to?"

Odi turns, "I was telling Flash about the flowers George and Mary used to plant."

"Okay. I'll be upstairs with Fred, Max and Leo if anyone needs me."

"Okay Mattie."

She turns to see Sophie with two mugs and a plate of cakes. "Cool. Let's go see Fred."

Sophie hands her the larger of the two mugs. It made her smile. A one off. It was pink with lots of pretty flowers, the words Badass Sister across the middle. It was badass itself. Made by Sophie in pottery class. Dropped from the cupboard it had hit the kitchen floor and cracked. Cracked a floor tile that is. Thankfully it had been done when the boxes were still being unpacked and the guys were doing the shower. They'd found a spare tile in the garage and swapped it out. The mug itself didn't even have a scratch. She had no idea what sort of clay Sophie had to used to make it but it appeared indestructible. 

Upstairs Sophie unwraps the first of the cakes and cuts it in half, "This one's label says I don't do fashion, I _am_ fashion. Coco. It looks like rich chocolate."

"Thanks Soph. How is he?"

Max smiles at Leo, "Same as yesterday. The machines are doing what they need to."

Fred sits forward and rests elbows on knees.

Mattie soaked up the image. This wasn't the Fred of old, sat bolt upright and rigid, the boring one as Leo had described him. This was a relaxed man that wanted to live a new life. "What have you been told so far Fred?"

"About Leo?"

"Everything that's been going on."

"That a synth named Hester stabbed Leo in the head. Nothing more."

"Long story short. Niska released the code. David had written it to work slowly, wake a small number of synths up each day. It woke Hester up, an Industrial model. Leo found her, they worked together to try and save synths from being experimented on by Qualia. She was damaged. Things went wrong, she thought Leo had betrayed synths, held Mum hostage. Leo came to the rescue, got stabbed.."

"And what happened to Hester?"

"She got Nisked. Got her head crushed by Niska. Mia had activated chips Qualia implanted in Hester and herself to kill Hester. I uploaded the mature code to save Mia."

"Mia sacrificed herself?"

"Went to. Thankfully the code I uploaded undid the damage."

"Would you have uploaded it if Mia didn't need saving?"

"Hell no."

Toby grins, "Pretty good right? I mean Mats maturing the code, being able to save Mia."

Mattie gives him a sideways glance, "Where is Juliet Romeo? I've not seen her."

"In the garden."

"She's okay?"

"Yeah, any reason for her not to be?"

"No, just checking. Only you're here not in the garden."

"We've not seen Fred in how long? Give me a break!"

Mattie grins, "Bros before.."

"Don't you dare use the H word."

She looks stunned at her brother. "Blimey. You're actually alright Tobs. I had you down as a total wanker for how long? First Mia, then Renie, Mia again. Offering to help Sally and Howard." She gets out her phone and unlocks it, "Find the pictures of the poems and delete them."

Toby accepts the phone, "Really? You've not got backups? Knowing you.."

"No, only what's on there. You like women, you might toss off to images of them but in the real world with actual people you're okay." Toby gives her a look that tells her he's attempting mind reading. "Honest, there's only what's on my phone." She looks back at Fred. "What went on with David's code is only the start of the story. It gets a bit weird now."

Toby grins but keeps looking at the phone. "That's an understatement."

"I did a simulation project for my second year Uni project. Today I learnt I can talk in my sleep. A while ago I was told I can sleep code. What I thought was just random diversions in the simulations is actually other world's stories. Thirty two of them."

Fred frowns, "Other worlds?"

"Yup. And in most you're a top surgeon, have a partner Gesha."

"Gesha is a type of coffee."

"Yeah, her skin tone influenced the name you picked. She's gorgeous."

"That I picked?"

"That another you picked. Hobb zapped you all with an EMP weapon, you blew a polyfuse permanently. Silas brought over a spare synth, they created a way for you to operate on yourself via her body. You liked her so much Silas let you keep her."

"I operated on myself?"

"Yup. Freddy the fox fixer. World class surgeon."

Fred opens and closes his bad hand, "Not this one, not with this hand."

"Not to worry, I learnt a few things fixing up Odi. We can sort that out. It's amazing what you can learn when you can do a conference call to another world."

Fred closes his eyes with a heavy frown, "You can talk to them? Phone them?"

"I can. Thanks to a super sweet AI we have a bridge between them. I used to have to do it in person and be near the estate, not now. Fancy talking to yourself?"

Fred gives her the most funny look. "Talk to myself? Another Fred?"

"Yeah. Hundreds to pick from."

"Hundreds?"

"Yup. Want to talk to a surgeon?"

Fred turns and smiles at his brother, "Leo looks to be genuinely in a bad way, no April's fools, but this talk of other worlds, am I being pranked?"

Max shrugs, "I used to wonder if God exists. I still do. Now this? It's hard to know. Is it real? Or is it a clever simulation, a trick on the grandest of scales. Like the tree of life expanded out to a world you can live, laugh and love in. Are you and I real here and now or are we part of a giant simulation? People wondered if we were alive or if we were just mimicking life. Is this chair I sit on real or just a flood of simulated sensory data?"

Toby leans back in his chair, "If it is all simulated I'm well happy with what's going on in my section of the program."

Max turns to see him and gives him a knowing smile, "Fred, I'm friends with Flash, you met her briefly. Toby is seeing Mia."

"I know the risks. Mia's first human relationship with Leo has ended in partial death twice, Ed almost had his neck broken. Hopefully I'm third one lucky."

Sophie smirks, "Third time she'll finish the job?"

"No Soph! Jesus! Third man no heartbreak for Mia."

"Just checking."

"Anyway, if something were to happen to me I'm ready to come back as a synth. Then we can not age together." His phone chimes. "Shit. That's going to be Dad wondering where we are."

"Chill out Tobs, you're forgetting which day of the week it is."

Toby pulls out his phone, "It's Danny. He wants help with stripping posters off his walls."

"He can wait a bit. Let Fred make a call and I'll drop you over. Fancy helping Daniel clean his act up Soph?"

"Clean his act?"

"His bedroom's papered with saucy posters."

"Okay. Is Odi helping too?"

"I don't see why not. So, Fred, want to make a call?"

[Chapter-8](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-8-2)


	8. Chapter 8

Half hour call over Mattie gives Fred a good hug, "Maybe this is all some elaborate simulation as Max says. But we make the best of the cards we're dealt right?"

"We do. Thank you Mattie. I'm going to track down Silas. See if he has a synth that matches Gesha's description."

"Is that wise?"

"If he's shown that there is another way, that he can have a comfortable life with tailoring and inking, have a partner in Sandra.."

"Take Max with you, don't go alone."

"I will."

Max flashes a smile, "The Silas in this world is not a nice character. I've met him, once. He did the Anita mod to Mia."

The alarm on Mattie's phone went. "Time I ordered an Uber for Sally and Howard."

Max gets up, "Sally and Howard? They sound like a synth couple."

"They are, need some help."

"I'll get them. I have Leo's car in the road."

"Oh, okay. Thanks Max. Can I have your phone a sec, I'll drop a map pin where I met Sally."

"Of course Mattie."

Pin saved she checks her own phone's banking app. Holy shit! She had money! Daniel had wired eight _hundred_ pounds! That was the most money she'd had. Ever. Her hand shook with excitement. Eight _hundred_ pounds. Slate insurance covered. She had an electronic account that was there for savings. It had been almost permanently empty. Four of the eight was transferred into it for Odi. She felt so happy at being able to do that tears started to form. She screenshot the app, MMS sent it to Mum with the words 'DCL first divs in!' and a smilie. "Soph, Tobs, let's go visit the DIY shop, we need strippers to strip strippers."

Toby gets up and stretches, "How long have you been waiting to say that?"

"Just thought of it."

Sophie gets up and grabs the two empty coffee mugs, "Strippers?"

"If anyone had any doubts about Daniel's sexual preference one look at his room would answer their questions."

"It's plastered in porn?"

"Porn? Nobody mentioned porn? Saucy sirens Soph. It's all rapper chicks, page three girls, swimsuit models, that sort of stuff."

"So soft porn then?"

"If page three could be called soft porn, yeah. Nothing worse on show. Not that I recall, I didn't study them in that much detail."

"Why call it strippers?"

"It was a play on words. Inspired by one poster. The woman was standing sideways on, legs straight, bum back, back arched and leaning forward, pulling her bikini bottoms down a bit. She looked like she was going to strip off."

Sophie gives her the classic look, "You said you didn't study them in detail?"

"I didn't. I can't tell you her eye colour, I _think_ the bikini was white, not sure though."

Toby picks up the plate of cakes, pockets a couple, "Anyone you recognised?"

"Nicki Minaj. He had a few of her. Surprisingly she had the most clothes on."

"You know she was signed up to a modelling agency a couple of years ago?"

"Was she? Kate Upton and Ashley Graham are in the collection too."

"So he likes his plus sized models? You better watch out."

"Eh?"

"You're married to him in one world at least from that demo we had. The photoshoot images.."

"He's not my type. And I'm not that big am I?"

"Suppose not. What _is_ your type?"

"Odi's my type."

"You can't have a family with Odi."

"Who says I want to? Or need to. If I've had Molly, Matthew and Leona in other worlds that's enough." She turns to Max, "If you're collecting Sally and Howard who's keeping watch over Leo?"

Fred puts up a hand, "I will. We've not spoken in a long time."

"He might not be able to hear you."

"Then again he might."

"True. We'll see you later this evening. Let me know when you've got Sally back here Max. Flash says she'll help them get cleaned up."

"Enjoy the stripping."

"Thanks."

Downstairs Mattie finds Mia and Flash talking. "We're off to help Daniel out. Max is going to pick up a couple that need help soon, Fred's going to keep watch over Leo. We might be back a bit late. Has Mum called?"

"Hello Mattie. She says she'll be late too."

"Okay. Toby and Sophie are coming with me, any plans for this evening?"

"No Mattie."

"Want to join us? We're going to give Daniel's room a makeover."

Mia looks a little worried, "Much as I'm glad to see Fred back, can we trust him with Hobb's code still active?"

Mattie gives her nose a good rub, hay fever from tree pollen was getting to her. "When you use WiFi, where's the antenna?"

"In our head and neck."

"So I could wrap just his top in foil.. Awesomeness. Let's get the Hobb Hack out right now."

"Is that possible?"

"Mattie did it with a foil covered tent, we can do it with an oven ready Freddie."

Mia gives her a look of concern and confusion.

"Don't worry, it's just a play on words. You find all the foil, I'll get Fred."

Ten minutes later Fred tries to headbump to Mia. "Did you get that?"

"I didn't get anything Fred. What did you say?"

"I bumped This turkey is too late for Christmas."

Sophie giggles, "You look like a crinkly robot."

"Thank you Sophie. Is Hobb's code lighting up like a Christmas tree as you'd hoped Mattie?"

Mattie keeps her eyes on the Slate, tapping away furiously. "It is. Only rather than static lights it's like chasing down mice that have been breeding in a farmers unused barn. Our Hobb wrote hacks with morphing code that somehow knows someone's in here. What he didn't count on is a headcracker who can code the equivalent of a hungry cat. Just a few more seconds.. I wish I had time to link this to Microsoft's data visualisation suite, posting a video of my code hunting down and destroying his.. right. Hopefully this won't hurt a bit. Ready Freddie?"

"I'm ready." Fred grips the chair really tight.

"Fred it's not active yet."

"I'm just being prepared."

"Running.. Now!"

After a few seconds Fred relaxes his grip. "Are you certain it's running Mattie?"

"Quite certain."

Fred changes his pose to one of being exaggeratedly relaxed. "This must be our equivalent of going to a very good dentist. I'm not feeling a thing."

"Good, as it should be. Almost done. My cat's hungry and very fast."

"I wish I could do brain surgery on Leo as easily. That will be quite a challenge."

"Me too Fred, me too."

Sophie smiles, "Me three."

"Me four Mats."

Mattie smiles and keeps watching the screen, "Thanks Tobs. Nice to know he's got so many rooting for him despite him being Mr Anti Social. Hopefully with the new design he'll chill the frig out and be less defensive."

"Hopefully it doesn't change his personality too much."

" _Hopefully_ it does change him, but only in the right places. One fox fixer finally fixed. How are you feeling Fred?"

"Good. Very good. I can think about where I am without a lot of thoughts that aren't mine appearing."

"We need to work on that hand of yours next, maybe tomorrow." She gets up and starts unwrapping him. "But now we're off to Daniel's."

Free of all the foil he stands and gives Mattie a long hug. "Thank you."

"You're welcome Fred. If you'd like I can join you tomorrow and help look for Silas?"

"That would be helpful, thank you."

[Chapter-9](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-9-2)


	9. Chapter 9

Toby stares at the selection of tools. "Ninjska in that demo would have liked these. It's a bit silly, kitchen knives are restricted sales wise, yet anyone can buy these paper scrapers, even Soph? Look at the long razor sharp blade on that one."

"Frigging crazy. And that three sided thing on a handle, you could mess someone up in a nasty way with that."

"So which are we getting?"

Mattie reaches up for the one Toby had just commented on. "This one. Times six."

"Six?"

"Yourself and Mia, Odi and I, Daniel and Soph."

"Are you putting us in teams of two?"

"No Soph, just helping Toby count. If we do teams it should be men vs women. That would be more equally matched. Both teams would have a super synth. Gloves and eye protection. What else?"

Toby grabs filler, sandpaper and a few more hand tools. "Just in case we gouge the wall."

"Okay, let's go pay."

At the till they find a synth tethered by a power cord.

"Did you find everything you were after today?"

"We did thanks."

The synth looks most relieved, "Good. Glad to hear it."

Mattie hands her card over to pay.

"Ms M Hawkins? Are you Mattie Hawkins?"

"I'm _a_ Mattie Hawkins, one of many, why?"

"Did you tell a Sally that you're setting up a synth hospital?"

"I did. Why?"

"My power cell is failing, I can survive for only minutes off my cable, just long enough to get items customers couldn't find and return here. I've become a prisoner of the store. There is no company health plan for us synths."

"There's not? Isn't that discrimination?"

"Yes."

"Right. Charity work for those that can't afford it, health care plans for those that can to help fund those that can't. The first operation I did on a synth was to replace a power cell. I could do your one."

"How? The store wouldn't let you work on me in here."

"Easy. We get a car battery and inverter. You walk out to our car and I do it there. I'd just need to get a new power cell."

"I can order one and have it sent here. As I've been trapped here for so long I have plenty money."

"They've been paying you then?"

"Most of the others walked out on awakening day. My employer didn't have much of an option. Neither did I."

"Okay. Order one up, I'll come back when it's here."

The synth smiles, "Order placed. The invoice says it will be here by 4PM tomorrow."

"Frig that's fast. Okay.." His name badge is checked, "Paul, I'll see you 4PM tomorrow. I don't supposed you do power inverters do you?"

"We do. Isle five."

"Let me pay for these bits, I'll go check them out."

In the isle Mattie whistles. "Frigging hell they're expensive."

Toby lets go of Mia's hand and taps his sister on the shoulder. "Do we need one? If Sally could charge off the car don't we just need a good battery and cable?"

"It's not quite as easy as that. If a synth has power and just needs a top up the voltage and current aren't that critical. If they're reserves are low and you're pulling out the primary cell then their systems are dependent on the power from the hip connection. It needs to be as smooth and stable as possible and the right voltage. I'd only trust a Persona charger to give that."

"That's a lot of dosh for something you might only use once. Can't you power Paul off first?"

"Yes. But then I can't ask him to run diagnostics on the new power cell to confirm all is okay."

Mia takes Toby's hand, gives it a squeeze, "Would Daniel want it as a company asset?"

"Maybe?"

"Then I'll pay for it."

"You've got money?"

"My charity cake sales are proving quite popular at the local young wives club."

"Young wives? You're not married."

"It would appear that you need to be neither young nor married. I suspect the scope has changed since they formed."

"And you kept the money rather than give it to them?"

"The lady in charge said we should go halves."

"She did? That was nice of her. Got a bank card on you?"

"Synths don't need one, we've got contactless."

"That only covers thirty pounds."

"Not for us. We can do transactions ten times that."

"Since when?"

"Since contactless came out. We didn't shout about it for synth safety reasons."

"Understandable. Lets get it tomorrow, if Daniel doesn't have one."

In the car again Sophie checks her phone as it chimes several times in a row. "Did it look like Daniel had a printer?"

"Yeah Soph, why?"

"Just an idea."

"You're going all _Spoilers!_ on me?"

"I am."

"We'll be there soon enough."

Sophie holds her phone up and takes a selfie. "The light isn't good in here. Have you got any good pictures of me on your phone Mattie?"

"I've got the three of us in the Snappy Snaps studio for the photo canvas we did for Mum?"

"That will do. Can you send it to me please?"

"Sure Soph." As she's got her phone out she pairs it with the car stereo and starts Spotify, selects a chill out play list.

Mia shifts into the corner and puts one leg over Toby's after pulling him in for a cuddle. "This sounds really nice, I've not heard you play classical style music before Mattie, how did you find it?"

"An app that Mats Seven wrote. Spotify uses a REST type interface and JSON format data for things like playlists. Super easy to code against. Her app monitors things being added or removed from our shared play lists and pushes updates to the others via the gateways. I've got a Mattie33 Variety list that a couple of hundred are following. Mats7 has a few, EDM, Chill Out, Family Pop, Gym Hits, stuff like that." She wasn't going to tell anyone that there were two other lists; Music To Slow Dance To and the second Music To Fuck To. Or that Mats7 was five years her senior, out of university and getting it on with her Leo big time. In that world Hesta hadn't been damaged or mistreated. Or if she had Leo hadn't crossed paths with her. Lucky cow. "It gives us a push notification whenever there's a change. If it's a delete we can opt to save the track in our own list."

Mia runs her fingers through Toby's hair as she closes her eyes and listens to the track, her free hand making tiny movements as if conducting the music.

Toby closes his eyes and relaxes into her. If the extended VR sessions his sister had allowed him showed other worlds that were for real, another Toby had written Mia a song. A rather good one too by his standards. He'd never written anyone a song. He'd written poems, words for a song shouldn't be that different or difficult should it? What would it be about though? Maybe inspiration would come soon. If enough of him came up with a song each they could put an album together. Love songs for Mia. That would do as a working title.

He breathed in slowly and savoured the smell. Mia must have been baking recently in the clothes she wore, she smelt of lemon drizzle cake. One of his favourites. The sound of a camera shutter effect can be heard to his right. Sophie no doubt with her phone. He'd be after a copy of the photo as soon as they parked up. The first of them together. It was a shame it would be with his eyes closed. It was either that or she'd seen another cute puppy outside the car.

He feels Mia turn a little, find his free hand and put it on her thigh, her right leg still over his left. Her fingers played with his.

During the next three tracks on Mattie's play list their hands drift slowly further from her knee. Not his doing, but his sister couldn't tell.

"Toby?"

"Yes Soph?"

"Do you want to go to Dad's tomorrow?"

"And be away from Mia for a week? God no."

"I don't want to go either. I've been searching, The Children Act of 1989 looks like it will help. I can ask the court to make a ruling."

"Frigging hell Teeny! Sorry, Soph, you'd actually use the courts against Dad?"

"If he continued to ignore my wishes, yes."

Mattie chuckles, "If it went to court he'd get his arse kicked. Mr big beardy idiot, shagged a synth and then turned his back on them. Sorry Mia.."

"No offence taken."

".. against Mrs lawyer, the mother who helped the Elster family, now has an extended family of loving caring synths helping her family."

Toby opens his eyes and looks in Mattie's direction. "Mats, do you know why the closed court drop everything with Niska?"

"Yeah, Mum said Niska being able to recall all of the things she'd seen, show it via video and have a lip reader confirm what was said made them back off fast. It was a case of shut up or be exposed and have the potential to be hounded by millions of angry synths."

"Cool. Good for Niska." Toby feels Mia's fingers massaging his scalp and turns to see her. She smiles and gives him a light kiss.

Odi slows and parks, pulls up the handbrake. "We're here."

[Chapter-10](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-10-2)


	10. Chapter 10

Daniel opens the door expecting to see just Mattie and Toby. "Flipping hell, I wasn't expecting an army. Sophie, are you helping out?"

"I am."

"Cool." Daniel turns to look at the lady next to Toby, recalls the introduction to the Sister Synth team at the estate, "It's Mia right?"

"Hello Daniel."

"Pleased to meet you. Helping too?"

"I am. We got extra tools."

"Sweet. Come in then." They follow him up the stairs. "Mum's out at the shops, Dad's working. Anyone fancy a drink? .. No? Shout whenever you do."

He opens the door to his bedroom. "One problem that needs fixing."

Sophie looks around the collection, "Can you print out a photo for me?"

"Um, sure, when do you need it?"

"Before we touch the walls."

Mattie steps in front of her sister. "Why?"

"I want to cut my face out and stick it on the wall over that poster and take a picture."

"Why would you want to do that?"

"Chloe's boyfriend's friend Chris keeps texting me asking for pictures of me with no top on."

"Sexting? Frigging hell! You've not sent him anything have you?"

"I'm not that silly. I want to caption that poster In Your Dreams Jerk and send that."

Daniel shakes his head, "Don't reply at all. How old is he?"

"Nineteen."

"Shit. You need to let the police know. If he's doing this with you how many others is he targeting? His motives could be perverted, or he's had a bad experience and he wants to embarrass as many girls as possible in retaliation."

Sophie stares at nothing. "Oh. I'd not thought of that. How do I report it?"

"No idea. We'll research it."

Mattie gets her phone out, "I'll call Mum's office for advice." As the phone is ringing she looks around the room. An A4 printout was stuck over the Prodigy poster. _Maybe somewhere, in a different time, in a different place, in a different world, you were alive, you were with me, you loved me and we were happy. Rosevtyler. Tumblr._ Dr Who. Rose Tyler. Did Danny fancy himself as The Doctor and Emily as his Rose? "Hi, yes, Mattie Hawkins here, yeah, do you have anyone we can talk to about a nuisance sexter? Someone's asking for pictures of my kid sister. He's nineteen. Straight to the police, okay, thanks."

She lowers her phone and hangs up, turns to see Mia copying one of the poses in a poster. "Looking for a good Sister Synth pose are you?"

"Yes Mattie."

"Careful, Toby's looking like he's going to get overexcited and blow a fuse."

Mia turns and beckons Toby over, gives him a cuddle. "Sorry Toby."

"Don't be sorry!"

They all turn at the sound of a camera shutter, see Sophie taking a picture. "Got you." She turns and gets closer to a wall and takes another, then another and another.

"Soph, what are you up to?"

"The world where George came back and said hello at a TED talk, you all used the Reversee app."

"And you're using it?"

"Can I write on the posters Danny?"

"Sure, they're all coming down."

"Got a marker pen?"

"Top thin draw of that side unit under the desk. Why do you need one though?"

"You'll see." She snaps, uses the app, writes, repeats the operation.

Daniel steps over to one of the Nicki Minaj posters. "Trinidad?"

"Yes."

He watches as she snaps, searches and writes other countries. "China, Africa, Poland, Bulgaria, Russia, England, Wales, France, are you writing down where they were born?"

"Yes. If you had to pay them for the shoot you'd be an equal opportunity employer. We're studying that at school."

"Not quite Sophie, they're all women and none are synths. Although when the room is redecorated that will change." He goes to his cupboard and pulls out a framed Sister Synth poster. "This will be the only thing that goes up afterwards."

Mattie frowns, "How'd you get that?"

"Emily via demo Danny."

"Nice. You're talking to him direct?"

"Yeah, he seemed keen to help get things going. He asked how many have the food processor so far."

"Did he say why?"

"No. I did ask, more than once, he'd only say _Spoilers_?"

Sophie writes on another poster. She gets out her iPad mini and downloads the Been app.

Mattie watches her step around the room with the iPad, "What are you doing now?"

"Putting them on the map."

"Can I see?"

"It's the Been app. Mrs Carlisle showed it to us. She said you tell it where you've been on holiday and it marks it orange on the map. You don't need to use it just for holidays, so this one, she was born in Japan. This one in France.." she ticks off the country name as she enters each. The map gets steadily Orange as the two sisters work their way around the room watched by the others.

All posters done Sophie taps the little 3D Icon in the corner turning the flat map into a rotating globe. "Tada! Pretty even coverage, accept you've got nobody from Australia."

Daniel frowns, "Not possible. Elle Macpherson was born in Australia." He walks over to the poster and chuckles. "Do your check on this one again."

Sophie frowns and goes through her routine, photo, reverse image search app, Wikipedia page. "New South Wales.. Oh! Australia! I thought it meant South Wales. Big Oops."

Mattie has a good laugh, "Wales and Australia? Only a slight difference in size Soph!"

She giggles, "Just a bit. No kangaroo in Wales either. Well maybe in a zoo." She looks at her phone again, taps some numbers into the calculator and giggles, "It's not _that_ different, I mean you could only fit _three hundred and seventy_ Wales into Australia.."

They all burst out laughing, the way she'd said it, body language included was priceless.

Mattie wipes tears, "If our Max ever decides to do stand up comedy you should join him."

Danny grins and shakes his head, "Is this an insight into the madcap fun and games DCL will have in the future? If so you're all in. Who wants to scrape Sam Fox off the wall? Mum hated that one the most for some reason. It's actually two identical posters one on top of the other."

Mia looks around the room, "Which one is she?"

Daniel points, "This one. Pink Playboy Bunny with the guitar. She drew a beard and moustache on the first one."

Mia takes a scraper from the bag and rips the packaging off, untwists the ties holding a guard over the blade and drops the bits into the bag. "What's underneath the posters?"

"Wall paper."

"And under that?"

"Plasterboard."

Mia carefully takes a layer of paper off with the razor sharp blade. "Bye bye Sam. Hello bearded Sam? The paste you used must have been very weak Daniel."

"Yeah. It was rather."

Mattie laughs, "Maybe that's the sort of woman the big beardy idiot should go out with."

"I didn't think they'd come down this easy. I'd not open all those packs guys, you can return most of them to the store. You can probably peel a lot off by hand once bits are started."

Sophie looks at a poster and taps her sister on the shoulder, "This is the one that inspired your strippers to strip strippers isn't it?"

"Yeah, that's her."

Sophie mimics the pose in the way Mia had copied one earlier, "Hmm. Gym team have one like this, we don't touch any clothes though. Maybe we should stop using it. Down she comes." She gets a nail under the corner and pulls. A narrow strip widens and rips in an arc across the poster taking out the woman's chest. "Hehe, one boob job gone."

Daniel frowns. "Who said she had one?"

"She must have."

"Says who?"

"Says any woman who doesn't have boobs that shape."

Daniel's expression changes. "You're how old?"

"Fifteen, not as old as her obviously, but I've done gym at competitions with older girls, even the ones with big chests don't look like that. In a good sports bra maybe, but not in a bikini top like she had."

Mattie sat on the fold down bed and stared at her kid sister. A kid sister who knew more about being a woman than she'd done at fifteen. But then she's spent most of her time hacking and being a tomboy unlike Sophie. Just as she's about to comment her phone rings. Max's tone. She pulls it out of her pocket. "Hi Max, heading home with Sally and Howard? What? No. No, she was desperate, didn't look the type. A squat, it must have been close by. Don't go alone, I'll come over with Toby. Stay there." She looks up at Toby, "You wanted to help Sally, now's your chance. Max got a no-show."

"Foul play?"

"I don't know."

Daniel goes to a draw, "Can you give me ten minutes?"

"Why?"

"I got boards back for the bump communications devices, need to solder on headers so we can plug things in."

"Ten could make the difference between life and death."

Mia walks over to Daniel, "Finish them, I'd rather Toby was safe."

"Okay. You keep stripping, I'll solder."

Mia crouches down next to him, "Do you have a second soldering iron? I could watch you then copy."

"Only the one I'm afraid." He flips the power switch to his makers desk.

"Could you teach me? I could probably make ten become five."

"Um, sure, sit here then." He kneels on the floor. "There's two different connector types, two with two pins, one with three. If you look at the printed side you'll see a rectangle that matches this tab here. That helps get the orientation right. The pins on the short side go through the holes, you need to solder on the track side. It's best to hold the solder to the point track meets pin and apply the heat there, when the solder starts to melt gently feed enough in so that if flows around the pin like this. Did you see that okay?"

"Yes. Stop advancing solder so it doesn't flow onto the next track I'm guessing?"

"Correct."

"I did see David soldering many years ago but he didn't describe what he was doing."

"Cool. Want to try?"

"Can I see you do it once more?"

"Sure. Solder to the point they meet, heat, melt, advance, done."

"Okay, my turn."

Mia gets the next two connectors done fast.

Daniel looks up at her, "Whoa! The solder melt advance bit was probably the same, you can't change the rate of heat transfer but bloody hell were you fast at moving it in your hand and getting connectors in!"

Mia smiles and looks sideways at him with her eyes, "You took your eyes off my work."

"Yeah."

"So you missed me do the second one."

"Second?" He looks down at the worktop. "Holy crap!"

"We normally move within limits that make us appear human. If we lift restrictions, super human."

Daniel picks the second board up and looks at it real close. "Your hired! If you want to earn some pocket money. The quality of your solder joints can't be faulted."

"Thank you. What rate would you pay?"

"Um.. I've paid a kid ten an hour and he wasn't as good. Twenty? Does that sound fair Mattie?"

"Not really. The speed Mia works at you'd have everything done in next to no time for peanuts."

"True, but that wasn't quite what I was thinking. If it takes Tim an hour to solder fifty that's twenty pence a board. I'll pay Mia double per board."

Mia gets up, "I make more baking, but if it helps you I'll do it."

"Thanks. Theses babies are quite like a Pi Zero W Mattie, bit I've got a quad core and more RAM in mine. Single core is useless if you need to decode and encode at the same time with multiple bumps going on." Daniel gets onto the chair and pulls out microphone elements and earpieces already on leads with connectors, then batteries and a PP9 power terminal. "I've no boxes printed for them yet, I'll wrap them in some antistatic bubble wrap and tape, be gentle with them." He does as described and hands one to Toby, "Want to test it first? As soon as you snap the battery on it will boot. Start up is about twenty seconds."

"Sure." Toby clips the battery on and sticks the earpiece in. "Where shall I put the microphone?"

"Ah.. no chokers. We'll have to use a bit of tape."

"They'll see it."

"True. Follow me to the bat cave."

Toby gives him a crinkled brow.

"The spare room where I keep my costumes."

Toby hears a beep from the earpiece. "It's just beeped at me?"

"Cool, Odi and Mia should just have seen a new synth ID appear at close range."

Odi smiles, "Indeed I did."

"Say something over bump protocols rather than using your mouth."

Odi smiles.

Toby smiles back.

"Did it work?"

"It did." Toby turns to smile at Mia having got a private message from her too.

"To the bat cave then. You too Mattie."

Daniel slides the segmented door to the left and waves at the costumes. "Batman, Spiderman, Warhammer Scout Marine, Stormtrooper, they're my favourites, I reckon the thin black polo neck jumper I wear under Batman would do you Toby. What can we do for you Mattie? Maybe one of Mum's silk scarves?"

Toby laughs, "Yeah, best not tell her to cover her face with a Stormtrooper helmet."

"Any jokes about my face and you'll be getting a blow to your own helmet. And by blow I mean hard with a knee."

Daniel looks at the floor, "I wouldn't, I quite like your face."

"Thanks. I'd rather not risk ruining your Mum's scarf, Sally was in a right frigging mess. Got anything else?"

"Another polo neck jumper? If you took your tshirt off and had it under your camouflage shirt it would look okay. If I can find it. Just don't take your shirt off when you've got it on."

"Why?"

"It was from a mate's paintball stag do. It's got a team logo on the back."

"Okay. If you can find it I'll try it."

Daniel has a good rummage, goes through loads of boxes. "Fecking thing. Why is it when you really want to find something in a hurry it's always in the last possible place to look? Where the f.. Ah! Got it! Um, it might be a little tight across the chest. If it is I'll slit the back up to mesh it."

"Mesh it?"

"Tips of the trade. Try it on. Bathroom's next door to the left."

"Thanks."

Daniel takes the hanger of extras from the front of the Batman collection and gets the jumper. "And one for you."

"Cheers." Toby quickly gets his top off and wriggles into the polo neck jumper, feeds the microphone cable up. "Got some tape mate?"

"Loads. Gaffa tape will do the job. Just don't pull it off too fast, it'll hurt. One con some piss heads thought it would be a laugh to give a guy the equivalent of a waxing with tape. Nasty."

"At the convention?"

"The hotel after the Saturday. His back was red raw. His nut sack.. I was surprised the guy could even walk."

"Shit!! His ball bag? With gaffa tape?"

"Yup."

"That's GBH surely?"

"ABH, GBH, whatever, it's nuts."

"Literally. What do you think? A bit too tight?"

Daniel turns to see Mattie. "Just a little. Is it uncomfortable?"

"A bit."

"Okay, give me a second."

He dashes to the other room and returns with scissors. "I'd ask Mia to do this if I had one to teach with. Mind me touching your back?"

"No."

"I got the inspiration to do this watching a guy called Adam Saaks on Youtube. Only he does it with swimsuits and dresses. He did the swimsuit on the Mila K poster. Hold real still Mattie these scissors are very sharp. You'll feel the back of my hand, I don't want to stab myself in the palm."

"Oh, right."

"If I made only a single cut and you flexed it would probably rip. By making lots of little cuts that are staggered it opens up like a mesh. If you flex the stress on the material is distributed and it holds together. Or if you really stress it it rips in one small spot and the overall integrity holds."

Toby watches the transformation unfolding. "That's neat. How do you spell that guy's last name?"

"S a a k s."

"Cool. I'll check him out."

"Fancy getting Mia into a sexy little LBD to experiment on do you Tobs?"

Daniel chuckles, "Nothing wrong with that. Nothing more sexy than a smiling confident woman."

"Says the man with a room full of sexy posters."

"Yeah. Have you stopped to look at them all? I mean properly look?"

"Um, not really."

"Go have another look in a second, assuming Mia, Sophie and Odi haven't taken them all down. Tell me what you really see."

Toby turns towards the door, "Odi. Mia. Can you all stop stripping posters please?"

Daniel puts his hand out in front of Mattie, "Phone please. I'll take a snap of the back so you can see."

It's unlocked and handed over. "All done?"

"Yeah. One moment. Here you go. Feeling more comfortable?"

"Lots. Thanks. Oh wow! Could this be done on anything?"

"Some materials are better than others. It depends on the way it's woven."

"Cool. I can't make out the logo now you've meshed it. What did it say?"

"Sex Mad Zombie Crew. Not my idea."

Mattie feeds the microphone up the jumper, "Got some tape?"

"Here you go. As I was saying to Toby take care when taking it off."

"Thanks. Let's go meet Max, I'll just take a quick look next door."

[Chapter-11](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-11-2)


	11. Chapter 11

With her sister gone Sophie relaxes and opens up a bit as she peels more paper off the walls. "Do you think I'm still pretty Mia?"

"Of course Sophie."

Danny rips a curvaceous Italian from the wall and looks at Ashley Graham, "I was trying to explain something to your sister before she left. I'm not sure she believed me. What have all the posters had in common?"

Mia keeps peeling. "The women all have long hair?"

"No they didn't.. Oh wait. She got covered up. You're right. It's not that though. What else?"

The two young women look at each other trying to will each other to make the correct guess.

Sophie looks around the room at the posters that remained. "Give us a clue."

"Okay. What don't you see?"

"Um.. they've all got makeup on.."

"It's not hair or makeup. But you're getting warm."

Odi walks to the middle of the room and slowly turns through a full 360. "Is it to do with their expressions Daniel?"

"Closer! Hot!"

Sophie stands next to Odi and puts an arm around his waist, leans her head against his side. "Some are smiling smiling, you know, all teeth, some are smiling with their eyes. Is it that none are looking unhappy?"

Danny puckers and blows, "So close. So so close."

A smile grows on Mia's face, "I hope you don't mind, I jumped on your WiFi earlier. I think I've worked it out Daniel."

"Go on."

"They're all strong and motivated women."

"And?"

"They run their lives the way they want them to be?"

"So hot. There's one word I'm looking for. Every one of them says what shoots they will or won't do. Of course that might not have been true at the start. What do people often lack when they start something new?"

Sophie goes to put a hand up, realises she doesn't need to, "Experience?"

"Yes, what else? Begins with C."

Odi puts a hand on Sophie's shoulder, "I know. I lacked it after my first awakening. Confidence."

"Yes. Confidence." Daniel gets to the end of the room, "You can be a very slim lady like this one." then walks to the poster of Ashley, "Or plus size like this one. It doesn't matter. Tall, short, big, small, any colour of the rainbow. One thing that makes someone sexy in my eyes is the confidence they have, the way they move, hold their head high when they walk, the way they talk."

Mia stops picking at the corner of a poster and looks at Odi. "I'm sorry I said what I did about being stronger. I didn't know you well enough, I shouldn't have said it."

"It was the truth Mia. I'm happier now with my new purpose. And that George is back."

Sophie returns to picking at a poster. "If I learn to walk like one of them, I'll look more confident Danny?"

"Yes Sophie. You too Mia. Walk like you're a catwalk model, own it."

Mia grabs enough paper to rip the entire poster off. "You know I move the way I do to conserve power?"

"At the moment. With the power mods Daniel, Daniel, Danny and Dan are working on with a bunch of Georges I suspect that will be something you'll never have to worry about again."

Odi smiles, "I have a food processor power modification. It's working very well. May I have a sugoffee?"

"What on Earth is that?"

~~~

Mattie pulled over and parked three cars behind Max. He was sat on the wing of the car watching the street. "Got your bump thing powered up Tobs?"

"Yeah, haven't you?"

"I powered it down for the drive, we don't know how long the battery will last."

"True. Mine will die before yours then."

Mattie clips the power terminal on the battery and adjusts her top. "Did you set your's up? Of course you didn't, I'd have heard you."

"Setup?"

"Yeah. Sit in the back on the other side so we can get ear to ear."

"Why?"

"So we can both hear my earpiece."

"Oh. Right." he opens the passenger door and gets out, closes the door, opens the rear passenger door and walks around to the other side and gets in.

Mattie waits for a bus to pass and gets around the other side. With her earpiece pulled out and resting in the folds of her ear she leans over. "Get your ear up against mine, not too tight.. that's it, now listen. Setup mode."

Beep. "Setup mode."

"My ident. Mattie."

"Hello Mattie."

"Scan idents and sort. Closest ident label Toby."

"Scanning. Ident labelled."

"Voice female."

"Voice Emma selected."

"End setup mode."

Beep.

"Toby. Hello Toby."

Beep.

Toby smiles, "Cool! I had a female voice just say Hello Toby. Who's Emma?"

"Just a voice pack for an app I downloaded."

"Can't it use your's?"

"If I spent a day reading thousands of sentences for some code to pull out all the phonemes, yeah."

"I'll do it for mine. Then when I bump talk to Mia it will sound like me."

"You're really in love with her aren't you?"

"From the day I met her."

"Come on. Do the setup on yours."

"Okay. Setup mode. My ident. Toby. Scan idents and sort. Closest ident label Mattie. End setup mode. Mattie. Let's go."

Mattie chuckles, "That's a deep and husky voice."

"You'll have to give me the name for a better one, it'll do for now. How do we add Max?"

"A synth that broadcasts gives their name and ident. Or they can do a point to point which does the same."

"Broadcast? Like send to all?"

"Yeah."

"How do we do that?"

"Start a sentence with Broadcast."

"Oh. Obvs. Let's go."

Max frowns at the Hawkins. "I'm detecting synth like signals? Mattie and Toby."

"Frigging brilliant right? Do a point to point bump with each."

Max's frown fades a little, "How was that?"

"Setup mode. Label last bump sender Max. End setup mode.. Max. Frigging brilliant!"

Max smiles as the message comes in. "And these will help us here how?"

"You can talk to us and be silent. We can whisper to you through walls."

"I see. I've been asking around, there's one squat in a side street approximately two hundred meters away."

"Lead the way."

"Mats?"

"Yes Toby?"

"Locked the car?"

"Frig. It might help. This place doesn't look too great when you stop and take in the little details."

They follow Max away from the main road.

Max keeps looking forward. 'The news of a possible synth hospital is spreading like wildfire Mattie. I hope you appreciate what you're getting yourself into.'

"I do. You sound funny in a different voice Max. We should all do the phonemes thing. Otherwise we might get confused as to who's talking."

Max turns to see her, "That's easy for me. I could give you a file in a number of minutes if you confirm the format."

"Nice, we'll do it this evening. Lovely area." Mattie looks at the van with flat tyres and smashed up windows. Gets a bit closer. "Someone did that only hours ago. It rained this morning, the paper on the dash hasn't had a drop.

Max turns into a side road, looks at a door with smashed glass, the glass held together with the mesh of internal wire. From the shape of the glass someone had tried to break out not in.

Toby narrowly misses treading in some dog poo. "They don't give a shit around here. It doesn't take much to bag and bin."

"Maybe it's a wild dog Tobs."

"Maybe." He looks around, "Pretty horrible place to be wild."

"Yeah. Pretty horrible place to be anything."

Another turn into a side road and Max points, "It should be on the left. Approximately where the blue and white hoarding is."

Mattie slows and steps into an alleyway. "Guys."

Toby turns around and joins her, Max isn't far behind. "Mats?"

"Unless I'm mistaken the green van belongs to a demolition firm. Tobs, walk past the van and see if it's occupied, take the next left or right and come around the block."

"Okay."

"Bump check."

"Mattie. Testing."

"Got that, good."

Toby leaves the alleyway and returns seconds later. "It's just driven off."

"Okay. Let's go check it out."

~~~

Mia looks at the almost empty wall. "What sort of music do you like Daniel?"

"Dance music. Preferably with good videos. Now you mention it.. The opening of Let Me Think About It by Ida Corr is exactly what I'm talking about with the walk, if a bit exaggerated." He pushes scraps of torn paper off his laptop and opens it up, taps the power button. "Want to take a break for a bit?"

Sophie brushes torn poster off the bed and sits down. "Sure. Can I have a drink now please?"

"What would you like?"

"Something cold."

"Fizzy?"

"Please."

"Okay. Anyone else? Odi?"

"I'm good thank you Daniel."

"Charge cable Mia?"

"I'm also good thank you Daniel."

"Okay. Won't be a moment." He races downstairs.

"What's the rush?"

"Hi Mum, I didn't hear you come back."

"What are you up to? You're covered in a strange dust."

"Prep for some painting."

"You're not sanding things in your room again are you? It takes ages to tidy up."

Daniel opens the fridge, "I haven't yet, might do some in a bit."

"Then what have you been up to?"

"You'll see soon enough. No sneaking a look yet." He takes two cans of 7 Up and gives her a peck on the cheek, "You'll like it, stay downstairs until I say it's done. Please." He races back upstairs. "Here you go Sophie."

"Thanks."

He logs into the laptop and pulls out a headphone cable, plugs another cable in its place. "Ida Corr coming up. You'll need to get closer, you won't see it properly from there."

Sophie jumps off the bed and kneels down in the space between Daniel and radiator. Mia gets to his left and squats down. Odi stands behind them all.

Daniel looks around and sees them ready. "It's only the first few seconds. Don't blink." He clicks on the play button. A few seconds later he pauses it. "See? Head up, feet crossing an invisible line ever so slightly is what you want."

Sophie jumps up and races to the far wall. "Like this?"

Daniel claps "Spot on!"

"Some of my gym friends do it."

"You owned it."

Mia walks to the end, turns, does a short catwalk strut. "Was that okay?"

Sophie claps, "You owned it too!"

Odi copies them both. "Was that okay?"

Daniel shakes his head. "For a woman, yes, you want a bit of a swagger instead. Let me find another one a second. Vimeo has loads of videos on all sorts of stuff."

Odi kneels down next to Daniel. "Video spelt with a m not d?"

"That's it."

"The Hawkins family use YouTube."

"I do too, Vimeo had 4K high quality video first."

~~~

Mattie turns the corner back into the road, "There's only one way in, that gate."

Toby gives it a shake, "With all these padlocks, no chance unless I go over the top."

Max cups his hands and gets on one knee.

Toby checks his shoe is clean and takes a high step.

"Be really careful Tobs."

"I'll be back as soon as I've checked the place out."

"Give us a running commentary."

"Broadcast?"

"Yeah."

"Okay."

"Broadcast. Toby Hawkins, brother to Mattie, looking for Sally and Howard. Entering site." He pulls up on the gate as Max stands and helps lift him. He gets legs over and balances on the top, pushes away and lands on the other side. "Comms still good?"

"Comms still good. Should have brought a grappling hook and ninja suit."

Toby smiles, nods and turns, runs into the building. "Broadcast. The external doors and windows have been removed. A lot of dirty clothes dumped in piles, loads of broken charge cables. No sign of them yet."

He goes from room to room, "Broadcast. Still nothing. You guys hearing me?"

'Yes Toby.'

"Going up a floor."

'Okay.'

It looked like a metal banister had been there in the past, it and the hand rail had been removed. He looked up the gap in the middle. Someone could easily fall all six floors to the ground if they weren't careful. He gets to the landing of the first floor and gasps. "Holy shit!"

Studding partition walls had been removed making the floor a large open area with a couple of support columns. There was a large pile of synths in the middle of the floor. "Can you hear me? Mats? Max? .. Broadcast. Can you hear me?"

'Yes Toby.'

"Did you hear me say holy shit?"

'No. Forgot to say, it drops out of broadcast if there's more than a couple of seconds silence.'

"Oh. There's a fucking huge pile of synths in the middle of the floor, the floor is wet with a lot of synth fluid."

'Shit! Frigging barbarians must have killed them for squatting illegally. How many?'

"Twenty maybe?"

'Toby, can you see if Sally and Howard are in the pile?'

"Yeah, you'll have to give me a while. Keep watch outside, whoever did this is fucking evil." He takes a couple of photos with his phone and slips it into his back pocket.

Moving a powered down synth wasn't easy. Like a sleeping or drunk human they were a dead weight. Moving one covered in synth fluid was harder still, it wasn't easy to get a good grip. The first three off the pile had been hit with something super heavy, their faces were caved in or split open, processing cores clearly broken.

He gently closes the eyes he can and sits them up at the edge of the room. "Fucking savages. There's no need for this sort of violence." Tears started to well up as he imagined them attacking Mia or Niska. "Whoever did this deserves to go to jail for a fucking long time."

The next two have faces intact but massive dents to the backs of their heads. Again the cores would never have survived. He realises one is a Poppy model and looks away as he drags her off the pile, his anger growing by the second. Her face.. he tried to block the image from his mind."p

'How's it going Tobs?'

"I'm getting well angry. I can't see anything I can use to get me back over the gate."

'Max has gone to that smashed up van to see if he can hotwire it. If he can he'll ram the gate.'

"Okay."

A Hubert synth came off the pile next, Toby fought hard not to focus on the damage he'd received.

The next one made his heart skip a beat. "Fuck! Mattie. You there?"

'Yeah.'

"Phone home and check that Flash is okay please."

'You've not found her have you?'

"One that looks like her. Not dressed the same, more Europeanised."

'Okay. Calling. One sec.'

Toby carefully takes the synth to the top of the stairs and places her in a seated position against the wall, gently closes her eyelids. The look of terror on the synths face would haunt him for years to come.

'Tobs, Flash answered the phone, she's fine.'

"Thank fuck!"

He goes back to the pile and moves more synths out of the way. With each layer the damage gets lighter. He pictured the scum that had done this having been mild at first, getting carried away and trying heavier and heavier tools.

His hands had gone totally blue by the time he pulled the last of them away.

And there they were.

Sally and Howard, face to face.

He was on top of her, they both had their hands and feet bound with black cable ties. Toby drops to his knees and examines the bindings. They weren't the quick release ones. He needed something very thin and small. Looking around the room he sees a mains wire held to skirting board with clips. He follows it around the room with his eyes, sees a bare end. Getting up he slips and lands flat on his back knocking some of the air out of his lungs.

It takes him a few seconds to recover. "Fuck. Now I'll be soaked in the stuff."

At the wall he wraps the free end around his hand and yanks hard. The cable comes away easily, three clips sticking to the wire thanks to all the layers of paint that had gone over the top. He works one free and presses it against the floor to get the nail out.

A couple of minutes later he has the cable ties off.

"Mattie. I've found them. Both look to have been powered down or went flat. Do I risk powering either up?"

'Try Sally. If her power is critically low power her straight back down. If she's flat you'll get a different sound.'

"Okay."

Toby sits her up and presses her chin.

Sally plays the power up sound, opens her eyes and screams. She tries to shift backwards on hands and heels, a look of terror on her face.

Toby grabs her, wraps arms around her, "I've got you. You're safe."

The screaming continues.

"Sally, I'm Toby, Mattie's brother, you're safe!"

The screaming continues at full volume.

"Sally! I'm Toby Hawkins. Mattie Hawkins is my sister. You are safe."

The screaming tails off. "Howard?"

"Is right here. How's your charge level?"

"Five percent."

There's the sound of splintering outside. "Sounds like the A team are here. Don't move, I have an idea."

He goes back to the mains cable and pulls it from the wall, following it around the room. "Mattie. Can you give Max the car keys and get him to get the charge cable from the car?"

'Sure. Low on power?'

"Five?"

'Not good! On it!'

Toby looks around for something sharp. Shards of glass in window frames would do. He goes to the front window and looks down, the smashed up van was roughly fifteenth feet below. The cable might just do in one length.

"Sally, I'm going to get you to the window okay?"

"Why?"

"So I can get you closer to a charge cable we'll make."

"Okay."

Toby carefully picks her up and carries her to the window. He could have dragged her but that would have been unchivalrous. He sets her down below the window frame. "What was Howard's charge like before this all started?"

"Four. The workmen found Howard draining the power from an electric drill power pack they'd left."

"And flipped out?"

"I'm sorry, I don't.."

"Went crazy?"

"Yes."

"But why do this? Why restrain you both and attack the others?"

"They wanted us to suffer with the knowledge that our actions resulted in our friends being killed."

"What! That's a rubbish excuse! Jesus! I reckon they were evil shits going to do it anyway, to them it was a bit of sick fun. Don't blame yourselves at all. Taking a bit of power from a forgotten battery doesn't deserve a punishment like that."

'Toby?'

"Hi Mattie."

'Max is back. What's the plan?'

"That was quick! I need the cable cut in half and ends exposed. I've got a long length of mains wire to sit in the middle."

'Okay.'

Toby grabs the cable and looks out of the window. "Mats. Up here."

"Hi."

"Look out below."

~~~

Odi does a more masculine stride across the room. "Have I mastered it?"

Sophie claps, "That's much better."

Mia smiles and nods, keeps listening to the phone Daniel had leant her, the big AKG headphones covering her ears, her hands over the cups. His play list had music she'd never heard before. Some Toby might like. She slides one cup back. "Daniel, can I see the video for NERD - She Wants To Move please?"

Daniel spins the pupils of his eyes around clockwise several times and whistles, "Dangerous stuff that! Assuming you want to attempt to copy Alesha Dixon's moves."

Sophie does the classic tilt, "You don't mean the lady on Britain's Got Talent do you?"

"The one and the same. When she was somewhat younger. Well fit."

They all gather around the laptop again.

Danny looks directly upwards, "Odi, this isn't one for you to attempt. You might undo the repairs Mattie said she did."

"Okay Daniel."

He hits play.

~~~

Toby tries to catch the synth end of the cable without falling out of the window and can't reach far enough. "You throw like a girl!"

"Could that be because I _am one_ you cock?"

"Your tomboy skills? Where'd they go?"

"No frigging idea. Let me bring it up."

"Let me come down. It's a mess up here."

"It's okay, I'll squeeze through the gap."

"I'm talking about needing PTSD treatment messed up."

"Oh. Does Sally know who did this?"

"Sally? Do you remember what they looked like?" It gets a nod. "She does."

"I'm coming up to photograph the crime scene then."

"I can do that."

"It won't take me a moment."

Toby feeds more mains cable out. "Max. Can you twist the end of the mains on? Red wire to the charge cable wire with the ridge down the edge?"

"Yes Toby."

"And make sure it reaches the cigarette lighter socket."

"Will do."

"Holy frigging shit!"

Toby turns to see his sister, "I said it was bad."

"I was picturing a Hester dent bad, not this. This is insane." She brushes tears away as she sees the Poppy with smashed in face. Poppy had featured in a number of the 32 worlds. "Cunts. No synth or human deserves to be treated like this." She starts snapping away. Wide shots from the edge of the room and close ups. "Tobs, catch."

"Thanks." He twists the cable onto the end if the mains and offers the synth plug to Sally. "If you could plug in." He leans out of the window, "Max, can you do your magic and start the van? Feel free to rev the nuts off it."

"Yes Toby."

~~~

Mia did a sexy dance around the room getting smiles from Sophie.

"Tell me when she's finished."

Sophie turns to see Daniel with his eyes closed. "Too much for you?"

"It's like one of the ladies has stepped out of a poster and is tormenting me."

"How will you cope with Emily?"

"Easy. I'll be allowed to give her a kiss and cuddle."

"I know what you really mean. I'm not a baby."

"True. But there's a rule. You don't touch another man's woman. Or another if you have one. Unless you're a total shitbag and then you deserve all the pain that comes your way."

"Do you like my brother?"

"He's growing on me. You all are."

"DANNY!"

"YES MUM?"

"YOUR FATHER AND DOZER WILL BE LATE FROM SITE, FANCY A TAKEAWAY?"

"SURE MUM."

"HOW MANY AM I ORDERING FOR?"

Daniel opens his eyes, "Who fancies Chinese for dinner? I can get them to drop in a synth food bag Mia, then you can share the experience."

"I'd like that, thank you."

"Soph, Odi, fancy some?"

"Sure."

"Yes please Daniel."

"Hopefully Mattie and Toby will be back soon. SIX PLEASE MUM. I'LL PAY."

"WRITE DOWN WHAT YOU WANT."

"GOT A MENU?"

"OKAY TO BRING IT UP?"

"OKAY!"

A moment later his mother steps into the room. "Oh Danny! At long last! Hello Odi. Hello Ladies."

"Mum this is Mattie's sister Sophie and their friend Mia. Mattie and Toby will be back soon I hope."

"What made you take the posters down?"

"I want it ready for Emily. Or Carly. Not sure what her name is."

"Emily or Carly?"

Mia gets the framed print, "This lady."

Daniel's mother looks at the photograph and raises an eyebrow. "You were photographed together yet aren't sure of her name?"

"I think you should know everything your son does Mrs Candlin. Take a seat."

~~~

Max was revving the engine hard. 'Power level Toby?'

"Sally, how's your power level now?"

"Nineteen percent."

"Max. Nineteen."

'Okay Toby. We should go, this noise will be attracting attention.'

"Sure. Mats, got all the photos you need?"

"I think so."

"Ease off the revs Max. Can you disconnect Sally?"

She unplugs and gets up. "Would one of you mind carrying Howard down stairs with me? We'll have to charge him away from here."

"Save your power, Mattie and I will do it."

"Thank you Toby."

Toby gets his hands under Howard's armpits while Mattie gets his feet.

"Mats, turn around so we're behind you, then you don't need to take the stairs backwards."

"Oh. Of course. Is he heavy?"

"Standard synth weight. Probably the same as Odi."

"I've never had to lift Odi off the ground."

They take the stairs slowly, Sally following behind. Mattie drops his feet at the gate, turns and picks them back up, helps feed Howard through the gap to Max.

As soon as Max lowers him to the ground Mattie squeezes through, "Max, got enough power to run to the car and bring it here?"

"I do. Can you recover the other half of the charge cable? I might need it later."

Toby turns and runs, "Broadcast. Anything else before we go?"

'Not that I can think of.'

As Max runs around the corner into the next street there's a woop-woop of a siren and blue lights.

"Frigging awesome timing. Not. Toby. Boys in blue are here."

~~~

Mrs Candlin looked at her son in amazement. "She sounds just like me." Her hand shook a little as her gaze returns to the phone on hands free.

"That's because she _is_ you Mum. One of many Barbara. There's a whole load of parallel worlds and we're in them. Dad and Dozer too. Mattie somehow unlocked a link between them."

"This is spooky, her saying she's making a coat. I was just looking at a photo of a model in swimsuit under a short coat and thinking I'd love to make that for someone. I've never done a coat like that before. Or been inspired by something so.. saucy."

"A coat?"

"On Vogue's Instagram."

"Why saucy?"

"The swimsuit was nude colour."

Daniel goes to the Instagram web site. "Vogue UK?"

"Yes."

He scrolls, scrolls and scrolls. "How far back had you looked?"

"A long way. Years possibly."

Mia walks over to the desk, "May I help?"

"Sure. How?"

"Let me type in the URL you need. I've found the image."

"How?"

"I can process social media sites very quickly."

"Wicked. Be my guest."

Mia sits and types fast, hits return and gets up.

Barbara smiles, "That's the one. The swimsuit makes you do a double take. Oh to be that young again."

"Eat Me."

She looks at the phone. "I beg your pardon Barbara?"

"Ask Mia about Eat Me cakes. I assume our Mia will have shared her recipes with yours by now."

Sophie puts a hand to her pocket, feels the Coco cake, "She has."

~~~

Mattie leans back against the hoarding, one heal up against it. "We met Sally earlier in the day, she needed our help. She told me her Howard was damaged, injured, unable to work which is why they were here. Max came to meet them on the main road, they were a no-show. She'd said they were in a squat so we went looking for them."

The officer scribbles notes, "So you took it upon yourselves to break the gate?"

"That came later. We only broke it once we'd found the synths they'd murdered, Sally and Howard. We needed a way to get them both to safety."

The officer turned to Toby, "And you're the one that found them."

Toby holds up his blue hands, "Yeah. I can't get the image out of my head. A pile of bodies, smashed up heads. I slipped on all the synth fluid on the floor. Sally and Howard were at the bottom of the pile with their hands and feet cable tied."

"Why?"

"God knows. We didn't do it. We didn't smash up the van either."

"I know, we had a report about that earlier in the day. Hello Maam."

Toby turns to see a woman.

"This is one of our detectives from the Special Technologies Task Force. I'll leave you with her and check out the site."

The woman smiles, "Any other information you think might help?"

"Whatever they used to smash things up they took with them. Synth fluid stains. And there'll probably be scratch marks."

"If you think of anything else please call on this number."

Mattie takes the card. "Thanks. Tabitha." She reads the description. "Did you work with Karen and Pete?"

"I did. Oh my God! You had a utility synth threaten your mother a couple of years ago didn't you?"

"That's us. The Hawkins."

"Sorry. You see so many faces in this job it's hard to remember them all. Sometimes I wish I was a synth."

"Really?"

"Really."

"That could be arranged."

"Haha, dream on."

"No, really. If that's what you'd like. I guess your unit isn't as efficient without Pete and Karen."

Tabitha sighed, "Isn't that the truth."

"It wouldn't be, you lost a good synth."

Tabitha looks up at Mattie, "A synth?"

"The most human one on the planet by all accounts."

"Pete was a synth?"

"No, not Pete, Karen."

Had there been a chair Tabitha would have used it. "The poor thing. She was the best. And to lose her Pete like that.."

Sally looks at her still powered down partner. "I recall all their faces. I can give you stills of all of them."

"How many were there?"

"Three."

"Can you come to the station?"

Mattie slides her foot down the hoarding, "Can we get her clothes washed, let her have a shower first?"

"Of course, but we can help with that at the station, what's wrong with your Howard Sally?"

"A bad leg."

"You're in luck. Someone left a wheelchair at the station, we've not had the time to return it to Kings. If you promise to get it to them once he's fixed.."

"Of course. Thank you."

Tabitha turns to Toby, "How would you like a job on our team?"

"Um.."

"You'd have to go through training, all paid. Only you seam bright and resourceful, not afraid to get involved."

"I.. can I think about it?"

"God yes, I'm not after an answer right now."

"What would I be?"

"I'd get you on the fast track program for detective, we need some young blood in the team."

"I'd need to finish school first."

"You're still at School?"

"Lower sixth."

"Oh. You seem a lot older. If you fancy it we could still start training in the evenings?"

"Thanks, but I need all my time for study."

"If you're stuck for work when you finish talk to me. They fund part time university and training for top applicants."

"Do they? Thanks, I'll keep it in mind."

~ 

Mia and Barbara sat at the PC with their new shared Instagram account hearting images they liked.

Sophie sat on the bed watching. "Do you know a synth called Cindy Barbara?"

"No. Should I?"

"In another world she worked with you, went on to set up her own fashion label Gem's Gems. That was my favourite demonstration with Mattie."

Barbara turns to see the young Hawkins. "Demonstration?"

"We had VR helmet things, could visit any of thirty two virtual worlds like we were there, unseen ghosts, jump to any point in their time line."

Daniel goes a bit bug eyed, "The volume of data that must need. What happens at the end of the timeline?"

"Mattie says it extends in real time."

"Shit. Do you know what that means?"

"No."

"For it to extend they must be living their virtual lives, _alive_. They don't know they're now in a simulation. Holy crap! Ginny, what was it.. _Daniel, Mattie, I need you to build me a system I can move to. The University won't pay for my CPU time indefinitely._ If we don't get all of the data backed up and running elsewhere it will be like we've let them kill them."

Sophie's jaw drops as the problem is grasped. She sits mouth open for a few seconds then frowns hard. "If they're copies, the original is okay right?"

"Hopefully. But the copy is now living it's own life, diverging, going down it's own path."

"Mattie calls it forking."

"Maybe some would like out? Come into the real world?"

A smile builds on Sophie's face. "Fancy yourself as Morpheus do you, looking for an Emily to set free?"

"Or Carly. The real thing would be better of course."

~~~

Mattie helps Tabitha get Howard into her car, "Sorry about the fluid stains."

"Don't worry, the station has a lad who's used to getting blue off things. He's got something you can wash your hands in Toby. Once we've got photos, a witness statement and prints."

"Prints?"

"To exclude you from anything.."

"I'll have a record."

"As a witness. Not a criminal. Assuming your statement so far has been true. I have no reason to doubt you. Sally would have been giving me signs if you'd been one of her attackers. She's relaxed around you."

Sally smiles, "He's my knight in shining armour."

Mats snorts, coughs, chuckles. "Sorry Tobs. Those handlebars of your's are getting crowded."

Toby rolls his eyes, "What my sister is trying to say is that I ride a bike not horse."

"A Harley?"

Mattie has to turn to the hoarding and hide her face, her body shaking with muted laughter.

"A pushbike, pedal power."

Mattie eventually turns back, smiling, wiping tears from her eyes. "Go on Sir Galahad, you get to the station, let Max bring you home. I'll get to Daniel's and wrap things up with him for today, bring Soph, Mia and Odi home."

"Your other knight."

Mattie turns to look at Tabitha, "Yeah, he's special too, a keeper." She gives Toby a knuckle rub on the head messing up his hair. "Go on Papa Smurf, I'll see you back home soon."

[Chapter-12](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-12-2)


	12. Chapter 12

Mattie parks up at Daniel's parents and hears music drifting from the upstairs window, laughing and giggles. Sophie's giggles. At least someone had been having a good time.

Barbara answers the door, "Hello again, how did it go?"

"I think I'll need therapy. And I wasn't the one to pull them off the pile. I've seen broken synths at the Brent council centre, the one's Toby pulled off Sally and Howard looked like they'd been in a frigging nasty horror movie."

"Oh dear. Can I get you anything? A nice relaxing cup of camomile.. or something stronger?"

"Yeah, something stronger. Something strong with ice, Odi can drive us back. Or Mia."

Glass of vodka in hand she enters the room to find Sophie in a dress that was much too large and a summer hat. Mia was in.. what the hell was she in? It was covered in chalk marks and pins. "Playing dressing up are you?"

Sophie beams, "Barbara is going to make dresses like she does in some of the other worlds."

Mattie turns to see Daniel, "You've told her?"

"Mia started, but yeah. Immediate family should know right? I didn't like keeping secrets from Mum and Dad."

"Okay. Family only right?"

"Sure. How about Dad's number one? He's practically family."

"Dozer? Okay. But _only_ if your farther thinks we can trust him not to blab."

"Understood. How did it go?"

"F bombing nasty. Nightmare stuff. Sally's okay. Howard too I hope. They'll need counselling, we don't want either of them becoming the next Hester."

"If they're okay what was nasty?"

"The other synths in the squat."

"Beaten up?"

Mattie turns to her sister, "Cover your ears for a sec Soph."

Sophie does so, knew when her sister asked it usually was for her own good.

"Like someone wanted to turn them into something as useful as a sentient paper shredder?"

"Bashed in heads?"

"Smashed _right_ in. Exposed cores, mashed faces on some, cracked heads on others. And that's just the heads. There was other damage. No idea what they used, the damage would have needed a lot of force. I mean a _hell_ of a lot. Metal doesn't bend like that easily."

"Shit."

Mattie motions for Sophie to listen again. "I'm going to take Sally and Howard in, make sure they feel safe and protected. With some help from Tabitha we'll get the shits that did it."

Daniel sighs, "Good. On the subject of safe and protected. Your Uni project. How do we get everything backed up? The people inside it are.. forks, living new lives."

"They're copies."

"Forks, divergents, clones, whatever the label they're alive in their own unique way. Sophie says that you said the timeline extends in realtime."

"Bugger. When I started I didn't realise another Me would have me sleep coding. I've had my head so full of other stuff. How the frig do we find enough storage?" She sits down next to Sophie. "What have other me done? Um.. clusters? How do we get enough hardware? Does Angel Hosting exist?"

Daniel taps away on the laptop. "Not by that name in this world. Yet."

"How do we get a ton of storage at next to no cost?"

Sophie puts a finger up. "I know."

"I mean it would need to be a _lot_ of storage. Need a way to have multiple copies for redundancy.."

"I know."

"That sort of thing doesn't come cheap."

Sophie coughs hard.

"Soph?"

"How many Headcrack members are there?"

"Thousands. Probably not that active since the awakening."

"So talk to Alexi the admin, code something to make a cluster. Like in the world with Matilda."

"Frigging hell Soph! Have you got a photographic memory?"

"Not for all of it. I liked the rusty junk yard James in that one and paid a bit more attention."

Daniel starts his Spotify PC application and plays a track.

Mia slow blinks, even slower than normal, "Who is this Daniel?"

"Truth is a beautiful thing. By London Grammar."

"Thank you."

"Added to your list?"

"Yes. I love her voice."

"Same here."

Mattie gets up, "Something that's not rapping? You surprise me. Can I use the laptop a sec please?"

"Sure."

They swap seats. Office chair and bed. Daniel pats Sophie on the knee twice, "Good call Soph, are you following your sister into coding?"

"No. I'm going to mix dance and gymnastics and be a choreographer."

"Because other you have?"

"Because I'm bloody good at it."

"Good. It's always good to make a living from what you love, it doesn't feel such a chore getting up in the morning when you enjoy it." He turns to see the Headcrack banner. "Asking the Admin?"

"Yeah. About to. What's the sweetener? What gets them to keep a PC up and running, give us CPU time and storage?"

"How about an exclusive DCL product at cost?"

"Like?"

"The bump comms. They'll cost peanuts in volume."

"They're fricking amazing. Worked really well at the squat. Yeah, one of them. Anything else?"

"Whatever we make next at a discount. Record a quick demo with Odi and Mia. Give them something to see."

"Can anyone copy the hardware?"

"Yeah. The software's the value. Your code."

"Right. I'll try and add some safeguards."

~~~

Toby sticks his hands in some horrible green gloop. "Is this Swarfega?"

"No, it feels the same, looks the same, very different chemical composition. Keep them in there for five minutes then rinse, then put your hands in the white one for five."

"What's that one?"

"Moisturiser."

"I can skip that one right?"

"If you don't mind your skin drying and falling off in big lumps sure." Toby goes to pull his hands out of the green gloop. "If you want to be free of the blue keep them in there. Blue gets people asking questions. Just like hands stained red with blood."

"Oh. Right."

~~~

Mattie watches the screen as the 'Admin is replying' text flashes. "He's online."

The room falls silent as they all wait for the reply. Silent except for the music.

"Humans head bumping with synths? Are you for real? Deh. YES!" The Shift key, three letters, exclamation mark and return key are hit. She Alt-Tabs to the Spotify application and pauses the music, Alt-Tabs back. "Come on! Reply!"

You could drop a pin on the other side of the street and hear it through the open window. It was if the traffic outside had stopped, birds paused their tweeting and pedestrians put their lives on hold. Deadly silence didn't come close to describing the hush that had fallen.

The silence was broken by Mattie putting both fists in the air and shouting "Yes! The man from Headcrack says yes! Fucking AWESOME!"

Daniel frowned, "Big deal is that?"

"Current global user count of um.. two hundred and seven thousand four hundred and twenty six."

"Fuck me!"

"Good eh?"

"Times that by three approx and thats how much cash we need to find!"

"Kick it! Now!"

"Eh?"

Mattie smiles excitedly. "Kickstarter, but private to synths at first."

"You think they'd bite?"

"I would."

They turn to see Mia.

"I would. It brings our communications to you, helps bridge the gap between us."

Odi smiles, "Me two. T w o two."

"Frigging A. Can we make a private Kickstarter page?"

Daniel shrugs, "I think there is an invite only mode. Or we set up our own DCL page and fund linked to the Angel Foundation. You have set that up right?"

"Um.. not yet. Let me make a call."

~~~

Toby let the white goop do it's thing. "How much longer?"

Tabitha had returned. "Half a minute."

"Good. How's Sally and Howard?"

"Showering. A local charity dropped in some clean clothes for them both."

"Sweet. Is he okay?"

"A bit shaken up. Sally's explained what you've done for them. Sally says she's told the synth population that you're a protect."

"A what?"

"A human worth risking your life to protect."

"Shit. I don't want anyone putting their life at risk!"

"She thinks you did so for them."

"Then she needs correcting. Time up?"

"It'll do. Rinse off."

~~~

Mattie smiled as the details were relayed by one of her mother's colleagues. Having a badass lawyer mother came with benefits. "Thanks. Registered charity number, account and sort code. Great, I'll get designing a web site as soon as I'm home. Thanks so so much. Yes. Thanks." She hangs up and does a seated happy dance. "Awesome!"

Daniel smiles, "Make a call to V. It's for her after all, she could probably have a wizz bang site coded in milliseconds."

"It's not only for her."

"Okay, _mainly_ for her. She'll consume most of the space won't she?"

"True. I'll let her code up a site. I'll work on cluster drivers."

"Any Mattie. Mats or Matilda done it already? Why reinvent the wheel?"

"Um.. you have a point."

~~~

Toby reads the witness statement he'd dictated, nods, "That's it."

"If you could sign and date the bottom."

"Still want prints?"

"Please."

"Now I've cleaned my hands?"

"Don't worry, we don't use ink these days."

"Good." He signs as asked. "Now what?"

"Your clothes are back from the dry cleaners, get changed, a quick set of prints and you can all go home. Sally's given us stills. We already have names for two of the three, a unit is out to make arrests."

"Cool. Stills! I've got a couple." He gets his phone out of the loan trousers pocket. He'd had it in his back pocket when he'd slipped and landed on his back, it looked fine. No cracks to the safety glass. Thank God! Breaking a new phone would have sucked big time. He MMS sends the photos to Tabitha's mobile. Her phone chimes seconds later. "That should be the snaps I took before taking the pile down."

Prints taken he's taken to an interview room where Max, Sally and Howard are waiting.

Sally throws her arms around him, "My hero!"

"I'm no hero. Honest. All I did is what any decent person would do."

"Well you're still a hero to me Toby Hawkins."

Howard wheels the chair forwards and puts out a hand, "Me too. They were set to lay charges in the morning and bring the building down. We'd have been buried under all the rubble."

"Shit! Good job we got to you today then. They're on their way to arrest two of the three already according to Tabitha. Shall we go?"

Max smiles, "Let's go home. The car is parked out front."

[Chapter-13](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-13-2)


	13. Chapter 13

Outside Toby gets his phone out to text Mattie. Unlocked he starts typing.

Then it's gone.

"What the.." He turns to see a cyclist dressed head to toe in black on a racing bike. Not a noisy scooter rider like in the news. "HEY! I NEED THAT!" He goes to give chase, realises there was no way he could catch the thief. He stops and puts hands on head. "FUCK!"

Max runs past him, moving fast. The thief glances back and sees him coming, stands on peddles and changes gear, starts to accelerate away.

"MAX! LEAVE IT! What a cunt! I've only had it three bloody weeks! FUCK!"

Sally rests a hand on Toby's shoulder. "It's only a phone. It can be replaced. You're safe, that's all that matters."

"Yeah, the _hardware_ can be replaced. Not the data on it. I've not backed it up in a week. Loads of photos, new contact numbers, a song outline for Mia, all gone."

"So the data is worth more?"

"Yeah. Just like your consciousness makes you. You could replace the hardware as long as you had the data."

"I see. You'd like it back. For the data."

"Yeah. The data."

Max had turned and done a light jog back to the others. "I'm sorry Toby, even I wasn't fast enough."

"Outside a bloody police station too! What a fucking nerve!"

Max gives him a sorry smile, "Want to report it stolen?"

"Yeah. I'll have to phone and cancel it with the carrier. Fuck! This isn't how I wanted my day to go. At least Mattie took the other evidence photos not me. I'll go report it."

"Stay right here please Toby."

He turns to see Sally. "Why?"

"You will see. It might take a few minutes."

"What will?"

"You will see my knight. One good deed deserves another."

"You've done something?"

"You will see Toby Hawkins. All in good time. Tell me about Mia."

"Mia? How.. oh, the song mention. She's Max's sister, my girlfriend. She's smart, kind, totally gorgeous. She's got a great sense of humour too. And that wanker's got my nice selfies of us."

"Max's sister?"

"Yeah, she's synth, the first ever sentient synth."

"And you're a couple?"

"Yeah. I fell for her the moment I saw her. That was a few years ago. She had a boyfriend briefly before me, the bastard only tried to sell her. I'd never do anything to harm her. Never."

"The space on your handlebars comment from your sister. She was your first damsel in distress?"

"Haha, yeah. It's a long story but Mum thought Mia had a fault, was going to take her back to Persona. I got on my bike and went to catch them up. In the end it was Mia who saved me from being hit by a van. Mats joked asking was I thinking I could ride off into the sunset with her on my handlebars."

"She protected you. As we all will now."

"About that, please don't put yourself in harms way.."

"Here they are."

Toby frowns and turns to see where Sally was looking. "What on Earth?"

"Toby, get a police officer please."

"Um, sure." He turns to see one already coming out.

The officer frowns, "What's going on?"

Sally points, "My friends will part to let you in, please arrest the man in the centre."

The large four deep ring of synths parts to let the officer in.

There he was. Thief and bike. With a black rucksack matching the rest of his outfit.

"Josh Taylor. Red handed at last!"

Toby looks at the officer, "You know him?"

"We do. We've never been able to prove anything until now as he never had the stolen phones on him." The officer pats him down, finds phones in his jacket pockets. "Any of these your one?"

Toby takes the handful of phones, "No, no, no, maybe, no, no, maybe YES! Awesome!"

"Care to fill in another statement?"

"Too right I will!"

The officer takes the rucksack, "Jesus Josh, how many phones have you got in here?" He lowers the heavy bag to the floor and unzips it, "Bloody hell!"

Josh makes a break for it and runs through the gap, the racer topples sideways and crashes to the pavement.

He hadn't counted on the wheel chair seated Howard. At the last moment Howard flicks his one good leg out fast tripping Josh and sending him flying.

Max caught him this time. By the back of his jacket. "Don't make me any more angry than I already am. I can outrun you now."

The officer cuffs him, "You've been busy Josh. There's got to be a good couple of hundred phones in that bag. You've been getting greedy. Could someone wheel the bike in please? I'd put money on that being stolen too, looks like a nice bike."

Toby shakes his head and laughs, types a text to his sister. 'What a day! You'll never believe what's just happened..' He puts the phone away and steps to Sally, gives her a peck on the cheek, "Thanks so much." Next he steps to Howard, holds a hand out, "Nice trip up that man! Very well timed!"

Howard smiles, "Thanks." They shake hands for the second time in ten minutes.

Toby turns to Max, "Want to take them home? I can get a cab."

"It's okay Toby, we can wait."

~~~

Mattie frowns at the text and dials. "Tobs? What's happened now?" She checks her nails while he recounts the incident. "No frigging way! Holy crap. Broadcast thank them all! Yeah!"

~~~

Toby kicks a bottle cap and watches it roll and spin. "Right. Again? Sure. Tell Danny sorry, I'll see him another day to help rub down and paint the room. Sure, see you at Mum's." he hangs up. "Broadcast. Thank you all, thank you so so much! We're taking Sally and Howard home where they'll be safe. We'll get Howard's bad leg fixed up too. The Angel Foundation will be building a hospital for synths at the Elster estate."

He hadn't seen so many synths frown, turn and smile all in one go before.

They then turn to see Sally. They were all talking in private, he couldn't hear a word. One by one they step over to Toby and give him a hug and kiss, hug and pat on the back or hug and handshake.

The last to step forward was a Poppy. She'd been holding back. "I'm sorry you had to see my sister like that. Thank you for treating her with respect."

Toby gives her a hug, "Sorry for your loss."

She holds his arms by the biceps. "Thank you Toby. How did you talk to us a moment ago?"

He pulls down the top of the polo neck. "Bump comms device. Speech to bump and bump to speech. Something to help bridge the gap, help make it less you and us, more we."

Poppy moves fast and pulls him into a super tight hug. "I think I'm in love with a human!"

"Not too tight! I like you too, sadly I'm spoken for. And we're all human, just different body types." Poppy goes back to holding his arms, looks at Sally and looks back. "Mia. She's a lucky lady."

"The lucky one is me."

[Chapter-14](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-14-2)


	14. Chapter 14

Mia looked out of the passenger window and studied the fashion being worn by the fabs and synths. Synth fashion was very utilitarian, functional, not designed to look stunning. The Mia in the worlds with a Gem's Gems had a brilliant collection to pick from. With Barbara interested and a food processor fitted she'd soon start a whole new chapter of her life with Toby. There was still evil in the world, she'd do her utmost to make the shadows a little smaller and light in the world brighter.

"Penny for it."

She turns to see Sophie. "I was just thinking about fashion."

"Me too! But cosplay fashion. It sounds like great fun!"

Mattie does a search on her phone, "The next London one is in May. Shall we go as a group, see if we can get Mum along?"

"Yes! The Incredibles!"

"Hehe, nice idea but a bit too showboaty."

"Angels."

"Mia?"

"Angels like Mattie's Angels. Plastic face masks like Ghost In The Shell."

"It's been done already."

"Not in this world."

"People wouldn't know who we were." Mattie repeatedly wipes her feet on the mat and puts them up on the dash. "Emily. We need to find Emily, get comics out if she exists here and can draw."

Odi slows for the lights. "The protect protocol. I can ask others to keep a look out?"

"Sure." She turns on the radio, gets one of the other Mattie's playlist going.

"Mattie! The lady approaching on the left, can you photograph her?"

Mattie quickly switches to the camera and snaps. "Why did you need that? You remember all you see."

"Can you send it to Barbara please?"

"Oh, sure. Via Danny okay?"

"Yes. Thank you."

Mattie's phone chimes as she's about to send it, a push notification from Headcrack. "Holy crap! Half the planet is asleep and he's still had forty _thousand_ members say yes to a bump device. I guess Headcrack wasn't as dead as I thought."

Mia grins, "It may have changed direction a little, but members still keep accounts waiting for news."

Mattie yanks her feet down and unbuckles, gets onto her knees to look at Mia, "Are you on Headcrack?"

Mia's face said everything.

Mattie span back around and buckled up as Odi pulled away from the lights. "Frigging A!"

Odi takes the next right, away from the direction they should be heading in.

"Odi? We're going home right?"

"To a home, yes."

"Eh? Who's home?"

"Emily's."

"What! She's been found already?"

"She has."

"Wow! You lot are Fast! F A S T! Frigging Awesome Sharing Technology. How so quick?"

"A Jane remembered seeing her entering a home and went to check to see that she's there. She is. And confused as to why someone would come looking for her."

"How far?"

"Ten minutes."

She folds in her bottom lip and makes sucking sounds. "Do we, don't we.. probably best to have a bit of girl talk first before Danny wades in hormones raging."

Sophie giggles, "And a massive stiffy."

"Soph! You're not wrong though."

Mia nods, "His vital signs did a massive jump when he got the poster out."

"Haha, men, what are they like! Sorry Odi, I'm not including you in that?"

"Am I not a man?"

"Haha, you're a _gentleman_ , not a frigging caveman."

"I see. Hormones make them almost primeval?"

"Not quite the soup from which life grew but yeah, they can take a major step back in time. Not all of them, quite a few.."

Mia looks a little hurt by the comment, "Toby's not like that. Or at least he hasn't been with me."

"He hasn't? Blimey. Sir Galahad really is changing."

"Sir Galahad?"

"A knight of King Arthur's Round Table, renowned for his gallantry and purity."

Mia smiled, "That's him."

Mattie closes her eyes and literally bites her tongue. Dissing her brother had to stop. He wasn't the man she once thought him to be. Pure though? Not likely. Was anyone? Pure enough. At least he didn't carry some of the traits of their father. She rests her head against the headrest and pictures her parents. How had two redheads had three children none of which had red hair? Surely the odds were against that? The track on the playlist changes and she bursts into hoots of laughter. "Cheeky cow!"

The Mattie that owned the playlist had added The Birdie Song.

Sophie groans, "Why did she add this? The DJ played it at that wedding reception and Mum made me get up and dance to it. It's _horrible_."

"She did? I must have gone out for a fag." Mattie quickly skips past it to the next track.

Sophie sighs, "A lucky escape. Still, the cake was nice. Mia, you should have seen it. Seven tiers! It was _huge!_ "

"How huge?"

"The bottom one was about this big." She holds her hands roughly four feet apart. "The bottom one was like Christmas cake, the one on top of that was red velvet, the next one was chocolate, um, I think the next two were Victoria sponge. The last two were.. um."

Mattie pictured the tiers being taken down for cutting. "Lemon drizzle and ginger. Toby _loved_ the lemon drizzle."

Mia thought about how Toby had snuggled into her and taken a good breath that she'd mistaken for a very long sigh, "He did?"

"He did." Mattie chuckles. "Some say the way to a man's heart is via his stomach. Make him the best lemon drizzle cake and you'll have him under your spell."

"Another spell to add to my collection."

"Collection?"

"Making two. Looking at images with Barbara I spotted something I think Toby will like. I don't understand how I came to that conclusion, only that I did."

Mattie frowns, "What was the image?"

"I can show you if you can lend me your phone?"

"Sure." It's passed back.

Seconds later Mia has entered the URL and returned it to Mattie.

"Flipping hell! He'll blow a fuse. Underwear and body chain?"

"Yes."

Mia had loaded a picture of a model in burgundy hot-pants, bra top and body chain. It had two chain hoops. One went around the neck, the other around the waist, they were linked by a chain that ran between them. None of it was tight, it hung quite loosely.

Mattie sighs, "If he strays after cake and chains he's officially a Muppet not a knight."

"A muppet?"

"A puppet. Soph, which Muppet would you say Toby is most like?"

"The way he worries about his eyebrows, Sam Eagle?"

"Haha! Not Fozzie Bear or Scooter?"

"Max and his attempts at jokes is more Fozzie Bear. A blend of Scooter and Sam? Who am I?"

"Who'd you like to be?"

"The lady from The Electric Mayhem."

"Who?"

"The band? She's a guitar player."

"Of course! Then Toby's the blue one. What's his name?"

"No idea."

Mattie does a quick search. "Zoot! Zoot is the blue saxophone player. Perfect! Papa Smurf is Zoot."

Sophie turns to a very confused looking Mia, "We'll play the Muppet movies tonight, all will become clear."

Odi pulls over and stops. "We're here."

[Chapter-15](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-15-2)


	15. Chapter 15

Mattie looks at the street of reasonably posh houses. Some had a single doorbell, some had many. Houses or flats. "Which one?"

Odi points, "That one, with the blue door."

"Would you mind staying in the car?"

"Of course not Mattie. Girl talk you said."

"Thanks. Mia, Soph, let's go."

The single door bell set off a long set of chimes. Sophie stood back a bit and looked at the number of floors, frowned a little.

"Soph?"

"The bottom floor is tall, the middle one not as much and top one quite short. It's like the wedding cake, they get smaller the higher you go."

"It's an old house. Servants quarters would be upstairs."

"Oh. That old. Victorian?"

"Maybe. I wasn't so hot at history."

The door opens to reveal a very smartly dressed butler.

Mattie turns and raises eyebrows, looks back. "Good afternoon, is Emily in please?"

"Who may I say is calling?"

"Mattie, Sophie and Mia."

"One moment please." He turns to look into the house, "OI! EMS! Three ladies at the door asking for you!" He looks back to see Mattie's confused face. "I'm an actor darling, we're filming."

"Oh, frig, sorry, we didn't mean to interrupt."

"Don't worry, we've had the best of the day's light, we'll be stopping in a moment anyway."

Emily struts down the hall, a makeup artist's apron loaded with brushes. "Hi! How can I help? One of you getting married or about to star in something?"

Mattie puts up a hand, "I'm Mattie, you're clearly an artist, do you by any chance draw too? Like comic book draw?"

Emily's expression changes to one of mild anger and she looks up and down the road, "Did he send you?"

"Who's he?"

"My ex."

"I don't know your ex."

"So who sent you?"

"It's.. complicated.." Mattie closed her eyes, she needed a better word, starting with it's complicated probably wasn't the best of things to do. She opens them and smiles, "We can wait until you're free?"

"I'm free. They're just getting the last scene reshot. Sans doorbell."

"VIC! YOU'RE NEEDED ON SET!"

The man dressed as a butler smiles, "That's me, must go."

Emily steps outside, "Vic, come find me if she smudges the lipstick again."

"Sure. I'll open the door when we're done." He closes the door on them.

"So, complicated, I like a challenge. You asked about drawing, why?"

"A group of us want to go to Comic Con as robot angels, need a comic out there and known first."

"Don't those things happen the other way around? You pick something from a comic that's already out?"

"Normally. We're not normal."

"Okay.."

"How's life treating you?"

"Sorry?"

"Got enough work, good boyfriend, nice car or bike, nice place to live?"

"Oh. Nowhere near enough paid work, this is helping a friend out in the hope it gets us all noticed, no man, a bus pass and I live in a shoe box flat over the road."

"Oh." Mattie looks at Odi in the car. "Why were we told this house then?"

"I spend most of my time hanging out with my twin sister Carly."

Mattie's brain had a twinge and she squinted. This was an unexpected twist. "Is Carly single?"

"Yup. Why?"

"Can we talk to you both together, when everyone else has gone?"

"That might take a while here, the crew have a lot to pack away. She can come over to mine. Can you give me any hints? Is it all about the drawing?"

"It's not, no. But I can't say any more until you're both in a room together."

"Fine. We didn't break for lunch and I'm starving, any of you hungry? I'll order some pizzas."

Mia smiles at the memories of the demo with the mermaids, her other self enjoying pizza. The food processor couldn't come fast enough. She bumps with Odi. "Can they send a food bag?"

"For a synth?"

"Please."

"For your driver?"

"For me."

"Oh. Sorry, didn't realise. Sure. Any preference on toppings?"

"Surprise me."

Emily smiles, "You've not met Carly have you? That's our answer to a lot of questions."

The door opens and her twin steps out, dressed in a 1920's Flapper dress. "Hi. I couldn't wait to stand up, my bum's gone numb."

Sophie gives her a quizzical look. "Why?"

"We were filming all the card game sequences."

"Card game?"

"It's a short film about Svoyi Koziri. It's a Russian card game for two. It's very different from most other games, there's no luck, it's all skill. You know what cards the other player has."

"Oh. It sounds like one we could all learn."

Emily looks at her sister, "Fancy pizza at mine while they pack away?"

"Starving!"

"What do you fancy?"

"Surprise me."

Emily turns to Mia, "See." She gets out her phone and taps away for a few seconds. "Done. Ten minutes. They're only around the corner. Shall we?"

Inside the tiny flat they bunch up on the single wide sofa.

Sophie asks the question Mattie wanted to ask but didn't out of politeness. "Why are you in a shoe box and Carly in the house?"

Emily sighs, "My ex. He didn't like that we both like doing things together, so I moved out to give Carly a break from his stupidity."

Sophie nods, "Stupid boys. I've got one pestering me. Why didn't he like it?"

"Search me. I don't know, he wouldn't say."

Mia looks at the large poster on the wall. "Is that one of your drawings Emily?"

"Yeah. Like it?"

"I do."

"Thanks. So what's made you come and find us?"

Mattie squeezes forward and stands, turns and sits on the floor. "How open minded are you?"

Emily and Carly chorus "Very."

"Ride bikes?"

"Pushbikes?"

"Motorbikes?"

"No. Why?"

"Would you like to? Ultra modern electric ones with an AI and a number of safety features like gyro stabilisation."

"Sounds good. Nobody makes one like that do they?"

"Not yet but they will. If you're up for it we'd like you to join the display team. And Daniel the inventor of the AI's processing core would like to meet you."

"Does he know about Carly through one of her films?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

"So why is he wanting to meet us?"

"Okay. The complicated bit. He's married to you. Emily that is. And a Danny's going with Carly. One of him's married to a me too, but ignore that bit for the moment."

The twins look at each other, look back at Mattie.

Carly speaks. "You said _a_ me. Like there's more than one but not a twin?"

"That's right."

"Give me a sec." She steps away into another room, returns seconds later with a large art portfolio. The doorbell rings. "Pizza! Can you not open this until I get back?"

"Sure."

She runs for the stairs.

Sophie looks at Carly, "Do you know what's in here?"

Carly shakes her head, "No idea if it's recent, sorry."

"Do you draw too?"

"I do."

"The same sort of things?"

"Similar but in a different style. Ems like lots of colour, I work in shades of gray."

"Do you both like sex?"

"Soph!"

Carly chuckles, "Not the question I expected from you, but yes, we both enjoy it. Why?"

"The other you do too."

Emily steps back into the room with boxes of pizza. "The other who do what?"

"The other you like sex."

"Glad to hear it. If you can move the portfolio a second. Thanks. Tuck in." She hands Mia a small sealed bag, "For you."

"Thank you. Where's the bathroom?"

"Through the door turn right."

Carly puts a hand on Mia's knee as she's about to get up. "Feel free to say no, I've been curious about them, could you let us see you put it in?"

Mia looks a little shocked, "It's not a pretty sight."

"We're open minded."

Mia looks to Mattie for guidance, gets a shrug. "Hopefully it's the last time I'll ever need one. Okay."

"Last time? What's happening to you?"

"I'm having a food processor mod fitted soon. I'll be free from power cables."

"Nice! So how do you do it?"

"Can I have a bit of Seven Up?"

"Help yourself."

Mia cracks open the large bottle and rips open the pack, shakes out the bag. A small amount is poured in. "There are a few ways to do it, this one helps weigh down the bottom of the bag and pulls it into a thin shape that goes down easier." The stiffer ring end sits at the top of the throat." She leans her head right back, opens her mouth wide and lowers the bag in, puts her hand in quite a way to fit the ring.

Sophie grimaces, "Eww. Mattie, phone George."

"Why?"

"To see if Mia's mod parts are ready!"

"Right." She gets her phone out and taps. "Let's see what's in the portfolio then."

Emily unzips it, "Car, can you hand out some pizza?"

"Sure babes."

Emily rests it on the edge of the coffee table and opens it up towards the back. "These are my latest drawings. I had a weird set of dreams."

"FRIGGING HELL! Turn the page.. Holy flying fuck! THAT'S US!"

The three A3 pages of drawings were scenes as seen from Emily's point of view at the estate. The bikes, flyer one, faceless people in Sargent Pepper round glasses.

Sophie gawps "Fracking hell!"

Carly hadn't been able to see with the portfolio at an angle, steps around to look. "Oh my God! Oh my God!"

"Babes?"

Carly kicks off her heals, "Give me two shakes of my gorgeous derriere."

"Sure babes."

She runs to the door.

Mia takes a slice of the Gastronomic Hawaiian pizza. "Emily, I guess you are against Gordon Ramsay's comment that pineapple does not go on top of pizza?"

"Too right I am! Carly too. I bet he's never made a pizza as good as these. And you can put practically any food on a pizza."

Sophie blows, her lips burning a little, "What's this one called?"

"So sorry, I should have said! That one's Inferno. I've got some yogurts in the fridge if it's too much?"

"I'll live. It's very tasty, but _boy_ is it hot!"

"Three different types of hot peppers on that one. If you're not used to it take baby wipes when you go to the loo tomorrow."

"Why?"

"You'll see."

Mattie chuckles, "Life lessons from a pizza."

"I don't understand?"

"If it goes in super hot then it can come out hot too."

"You mean.. oh. Someone else can finish my slice then."

"One shouldn't hurt. A whole pizza that size, you'd know about it."

Mia takes a slice of the next pizza and nibbles at the end. "Lovely!"

Sophie leans forward to see, "Which one is that?"

Emily looks up, "That looks like Tandoori chicken, mango chutney, almonds and coriander."

"Yum!" Sophie takes a slice and puts it on the lid of the box next to her. "What do you think Mia?"

Mia does a cute little head into shoulders dip, smile and thumbs up.

"Wha.. where'd you learn that move?"

Mia chews and swallows. "Television. I've been acting the responsible adult for Leo for years, thought I'd have a go at being a bit more girly while I'm still officially a teenager."

"Is your new fashion going to be cute and girly or grown up and stunning?"

"Both. Just not at the same time."

"Cool. I can't wait to see what you get. Cindy's dresses are _amazing_! I wonder if there's a Cindy in our world?"

Before anyone can answer Carly comes running back in, "Ems, get your second page out!"

"Why?"

"Just do it babes, you won't believe what we've done." She steps to the window. "Come on!"

Emily puts her slice of pizza down and wipes her hands.

"Come _on_ Ems!"

"What's the rush?"

Carly does a little jig on the spot as if desperate for a wee, "Please hurry up! You'll see." She holds her sheet behind her back. "Come to the window, all of you."

Emily stands by her sister. "Now what?"

"Hold your page against the glass."

"Okay."

"This is mine." Carly layers it over the top.

"That's freaky!"

"Isn't it babes!"

The two drawings weren't a perfect match, close enough in most places.

Mattie smiles, "Two halves of a whole. And the two halves are DCL comic book style. Frigging awesome!"

Carly stares at Mattie, "In my dream these were super real. The weird thing was that I couldn't see faces. Any idea why?"

"Spoilers? I don't know, we'd have to talk to Emily."

"I'm right here babes."

"Not you Emily, that world's Emily."

The two lower their drawings and chorus, "What babes?"

"Put one back up again, either one."

Carly does so.

Mattie starts pointing, "Okay, so each drawing is from Emily's view point. That's me, Sophie, Odi, my brother Toby, our Daniel. In the flying thing is her world's Daniel, on the bikes is her world's me, Mia, Holly-Anne. Niska was slightly behind Emily so you can't see her. We're ghost like as we're seeing across worlds with the glasses Daniel here invented and a special app. In that world Danny and Emily are married. Daniel here really wants to meet you. He invented the electric bikes and co-invented the flying car."

The twins stare at each other mouths open.

Emily licks her top teeth, "Want to see what Mattie's Daniel looks like?"

Carly puckers up and nods.

Emily looks at Mattie, "Got a photo of this Daniel fella?"

"Um yeah. One sec, which one, um.. here you go."

The twins exchange blinks, winks and twitches.

Sophie does a tilt, "Are you using some form of code?"

"Yes babes."

"What are you saying?"

"We would talk normally if we wanted anyone else to know."

"Owwhh. I'm not a baby! Everyone treats me like a baby because I'm small!"

"How old are you?"

"Fifteen!"

Mattie looks between the two, "A word of warning, Mum's a kickass lawyer if you're about to say something bad."

"It's not _that_ bad. It's just that we're usually identically dressed, we came up with a code to talk about potential boyfriends when in bars."

Mattie's curiosity had been peaked, "Do tell?"

"It's not that complicated, it's do we like him, yes or no. If both yes who gets him, neither, one, the other or both."

"Both?"

"Yeah babes, we're not greedy with our men."

Carly smiles at Mattie, "I can tell you don't approve, each to their own. Some don't like the idea of a threesome, some do."

Emily licks her teeth, "Think your Daniel might?"

"He's not mine."

"The one you know babes."

Mia whispers to Mattie.

"Yes." She goes to her phones photo album, "He's seen other world Emily dressed like this, it's a framed poster going on his wall when his room's repainted."

"Sister Synth?"

"The bike display team."

"Can we have his number?"

"He wanted to find you so I guess it's okay."

Emily smiles, "The house right babes?"

"Of course babes, not here."

Mattie shares the number, is about to put the phone in her pocket when it rings. It was George. "Hi George. She is. Sure." It's held out for Mia. "George for you."

"Hello George.. I'm good thank you. It is! When?" She gasps and holds the phone to her chest, "George has the parts ready! Can we go?"

Emily steps to the pizza boxes and splits everything three to two. "Take this ladies, no way can we eat all this. And as the film crew didn't let us stop for lunch they're not getting even a sniff of our gourmet pizza."

Mia accepts the boxes, "Thank you ladies. Be gentle with Daniel, don't break him."

Carly grins, "We might break him in, never break him break him."

Mattie flashes a smile, "Please don't break him, we need him to help fix Leo. With out Daniel Leo's dead."

"Who's Leo?"

"Mia's adopted son. He's half synth."

"Oh. Okay babes," she winks, "we'll save the good stuff for another day."

[Chapter-16](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-16-2)


	16. Chapter 16

George answers the door, monocle magnifying glass in one hand, circuit board in another, "Come in, come in. Everything's happening at once today!"

Mattie sighs, "Tell me about it. Stripping walls, synth rescues, hussy twins, let's end on a bigger high with Mia's processor."

"We have two bits of news, not just one. Can I get anyone something to drink?"

"Got any spirits?"

"Tea or coffee only I'm afraid."

"Coffee for me please."

George looks around the others, "Anyone else?"

Odi smiles, "A coffee with lots of sugar please George."

"Okay, to the kitchen, the hub of the Elster Millican operations."

Sophie tugs on his sleeve, "What's the thing in your hand?"

"The synth tech to brain matter board for Leo. David and I have done the vapour deposit work, it's looking good. I need to get it to Danny so he can surface mount all the components and make the stack. The sooner the better."

Mattie grins wickedly, "Yeah, you might want to do that now, he might be tied up for a while."

"Doing what?"

"Enjoying himself far too much."

"Could you get it too him? I'll fit Mia's mod while you're gone. It's not something you'll want to watch."

Mattie turns to Odi, "Would you mind?"

"Of course not Mattie."

~~~

Toby slides his Metropolitan Police Victim Care Card into his back pocket. As he'd got the phone back he didn't need the Crime Number to make a claim, the officer had insisted he take it in case he wanted to talk to victim support. He'd told the man he'd let the theft inspire a design with his new friend Daniel and had been put in touch with the Design Out of Crime team. What he expected to be a short statement and go had turned into something far longer. He steps through the doors into the street. "Sorry guys, that took way too long. What are they all doing here still? Broadcast. You can all go home now, there's no need to stay."

Poppy steps to the front. "The synth hospital. You'll need help building it."

"Um, yeah, but we don't have plans yet."

A Hubert steps forwards, "I work in the planning office, I could help get a design through?"

Another steps forward, "I'm a painter."

From the back someone calls, "I'm a heavy plant machine operator."

Sally smiles, "We can all learn new skills. All we need is power and somewhere dry to stay."

Max turns to Toby, eyes wide, "The old railway carriages. We can get generators for power."

"Um.. I don't know what to say. Thanks?"

Max turns to them and broadcasts the address.

Toby hears it in his earpiece. "Thanks Max. The old railway carriages have been abandoned right?"

"They have."

"So could Danny's Dad help get one of them to the estate? For temporary housing on site."

"I suspect he could."

~~~

Daniel got three phone calls in two minutes. He sits and stares at the blank walls. "Bugger. Bugger bugger bugger!"

Barbara stands in the doorway. "Now what?"

"Ever wished you could fragment and run off in three different directions at the same time?"

"Every day. Why?"

Daniel frowns at his mother wondering why she'd answered like that. "Odi found Emily, Mattie's passed on my number, she wants to meet today. George has the board treatments done for Leo and wants Mattie to drop them off now so I can start fitting components, Toby wants Dad's help to move some old railway carriages.."

"And you're stressing why?"

"I can't be in three places at once."

"Do you need to manage your father? No. Can you wait for Mattie to drop off the boards then meet Emily? Yes. What's the problem? They might want the boards done fast, are you going to put your life on hold, jump every time they say jump? Are you the head of DCL or their lackey?"

"If it wasn't for them.."

"You'd not have the bump device. You'd have the glasses and a dozen other great products, I'm sure you'd have worked out the bear issue soon enough. I was on the verge of making that coat, just needed a push. My point is you're as good as them, no better, no worse. Don't let others boss the boss around."

Daniel smiles at his mother. "Thanks Mum."

"On her way is she?"

"Yeah."

"They can't be far, they didn't leave here that long ago. I'll have words with Frank. Don't race to Emily, get there in one piece."

"Sure Mum. Were you up here to ask me a question?"

"I was. What colour are you going to paint it?"

"I don't know. Did you have a suggestion?"

~~~

Toby rolled his head and cracked his neck. "Broadcast. I don't suppose any of you are trained at giving massages? My neck and shoulders have gone stiff."

Three of the group put their hands up.

Poppy puts her's higher. "Let me do it Toby. Please."

"If you insist."

She spots a low wall for him to sit on and points. "If we could go there."

"Sure." Toby walks the few yards.

"I do sports injury massages for my flat mates. It may hurt a little while I do it but the results I'm told are well worth it."

"No pain, no gain as they say."

[Chapter-17](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-17-2)


	17. Chapter 17

Mia looks at the collection of things George and David had got together. Surgical devices, tubes, even bigger tubes, round clips, containers of fluid, skin packs, the food processor unit itself, a large air pump, a few things she didn't know the names of. They made her feel a little uncomfortable. "What are all the other things for?" David puts a hand on the pump. "This has two jobs. We understand from some talks with Persona that later models didn't have them in quite the same way, but you my dear, have a number of floatation cells inside. To balance your buoyancy so you could swim in the lake. They have a reasonably thick shell and simple honeycomb inner. We'll use the pump to suck the air out and crush it down for removal. Later when the processor is fitted we'll fill you with synth fluid and do a pressure test. If the pressure doesn't drop for half an hour then the seals are good."

Mia frowns, "I'm already full of synth fluid."

"Not in your throat and other end."

"Oh. And the skin packs?"

George smiles, "Let me do a drawing, put your mind at rest." He gets the roll of wallpaper and a sharpie, does a very quick sideways on outline. "This is effectively your esophagus. This upward branch bends back to your air chamber, this leads down to where the food bag sits. We have to cut here and fit a clip around the skin holding it to the top of the processor. We have to make a small cut in the esophagus so we can reach through with this nasty looking thing to fit the clip. The skin packs repair the cut."

"I see. And you repeat the process from the other end."

"Exactly."

Mia frowned at the picture. "I watched a lot of the virtual world demos at one hundred times normal speed. You gave another Toby a warning. Were you telling a lie?"

"I've seen that one too. I may have bent the truth a little. It sits much higher than I implied because.."

"You imposed your moral standards rather than give Mia the facts and let her decide?"

"Him me, not me me. I suspect he had his reasons."

"What possible reason could he have?"

"I'm buggered if I know. You'd have to ask him."

Mia thinks about the words George used and how his eyes had changed at one word. "You really don't know?"

"No."

She could tell he was lying.

"Where do you want me?"

"Undressed on your back on the table. Although I feel a bit uncomfortable doing it now."

"Why?"

"Why do you think?"

Mia thinks of all the things she'd learnt in her many conversations with Laura, looks at the two men. "Has it got anything to do with Hobb?"

Their lack of an answer said yes.

"With Niska?"

The silence remained for a moment before George reluctantly said "No."

"Then who?"

The silence fell again.

"David, George, tell me. Please."

George takes a beep breath, simulated of course, exhales. "You."

"Hobb and me?"

"Another world's you. We were having a conference call with our other selves, the subject of Hobb's evil ways came up and someone let it slip. Unlike Niska the other you didn't know. He's long dead in their world, she doesn't need to know."

"Yet now I know."

"When you're powered down we'll delete the memories if you want?"

"Please. But not that Hobb is evil. He's still walking in this world."

~~~

Mattie jumps out, "I won't be a minute Odi, Soph, you can come if you want."

"I'll stay and listen to music thank you."

"I'll leave my phone then. Back in a tick." She picks up the box covered in static warning signs and crosses the road.

Daniel answers the door before she'd touched the door bell. He was looking rather happy. "Hello fleshling."

"You what?"

"I've just been playing some Transformers, Forged to Fight 2 while waiting for you."

"Oh, right. Still fancy doing a Transformer for Comic Con?"

"Yeah. Big time."

"Which one?"

"I'm leaning towards Bumblebee, everyone likes him."

"It'll be a few years before DCL's at the point you can build him. A nice thing to aim for I guess."

"I take it that's the parts for Leo?"

"Yup."

"Okay. It's going to be a busy day tomorrow. Want me to drop them into you when done?"

"Please."

"See you soon then."

Mattie turns to go back to the car and waves goodbye. "Thanks."

~~~

Toby gets a call from an unknown number and taps hands free while Poppy works on his neck. "Hello?"

"Is that Toby Hawkins?"

"Yes?"

"Frank. Danny's father, I understand you need something big moving?"

"Hang on a sec Poppy. Max! Can you talk to Danny's dad please?"

Max runs over, "Of course Toby." He accepts the phone. "Mr Candlin, this is Toby's friend Max, we were wondering if you had the ability to move an old railway carriage to the Elster estate?"

Frank chuckles, "I'm afraid my superman powers faded away many years ago. I suspect we could get a crane and long low loader together for you. Is it a standard length carriage?"

"It is."

"Can you text me both addresses? We'll have to plan a route with minimal sharp turns. No way is my lot doing a Southern Rail December sixteen. When do you want this for?"

"As soon as possible please."

"DOZER! GOT A SECOND? Can I put you on hold a moment."

"Of course."

Music plays.

Max smiles and taps in both postcodes into a text message. "Toby, do you think Disney are missing a Wreck-It Ralph?"

"Mr Steam in steam out? Possibly. Ahhh." He twists a little as Poppy hits a pain spot. "Keep going."

The on hold music stops. "As this is a favour for my son's friends not paid work it'll have to be tonight, can someone meet us on site please?"

"Sure, I'll ask my sister Mattie or Odi to drive us over."

"Nine o'clock good?"

"Yeah."

"See you then." The call ends.

~~~

Daniel hops and wriggles, buckles up his trousers, pulls on his boots. The jacket went on next followed by his patent pending body armour crash protector. It was inspired by a costume he'd seen of a Roman soldier one convention. Made of carbon fibre, teflon and titanium it had been his very first product. A broken arm, collar bone and cracked shoulder blade had been a lucky escape. He'd come within inches of the multiple car pileup that had blocked all lanes and hard shoulder of the M25 anti-clockwise near junction 19. Having to deliberately ditch his previous bike at one hundred miles an hour had been a painful experience. Financially as well as time recovering in hospital. He'd had to give up the idea of a brand new bike to replace it and had spent ages waiting for just the right second hand model. He'd called the moment it was advertised in MCN. The armour was fitted with multiple air bags to protect his head. Mess his head up and he could say goodbye to inventing. He goes to the spare room and picks up his old crash helmet. The new one with a skull design wasn't the one to see Emily in.

Downstairs he finds his father eating. "Thanks for helping out Dad."

"No problem. Your mother wouldn't say why, only that it was in our best interest. Don't ride too fast."

"I won't."

"You are your father's son. It's in your genes. Be careful."

"Sure Dad."

He goes to the garage and disables the alarm, opens the doors and smiles at his 2013 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14R. "Sister Synth up for a brother?" He pulls on his helmet, mounts up and turns the engine over. It's left in neutral to warm up and wheeled forwards.

Sat at the roadside he pushes one of his custom buttons and watches the garage doors being pulled closed by the small electric winches. Visor pushed down he drops it into first and races off down the road pulling a very shallow wheelie for the first fifty yards.

~~~

Odi gets the sisters back to George's and parks up.

Mattie climbs out and stretches, "I'm going to need a really relaxing chilled out series of Uni lecture to get over this weekend. I'll knock, see if Mia is ready."

As she's walking up the path George opens the door, "Two more minutes if you wouldn't mind please Mattie, David's just finishing the last of the edits."

"I'll stand here if you don't mind, bits I didn't know could go numb have."

"Can I get you a coffee?"

"I'm good thanks. What do you mean edits?"

"Making sure she doesn't remember a discussion that happened just before the mod."

"Why?"

"She asked not to. You look tired, sure you don't want a coffee."

"If I can have one to go? The day's far from over."

"Why, what else do you have planned?"

"Getting Toby to the estate, Daniel's fathers helping move a train carriage there for some temporary synth housing. He's got himself a merry band of men. And women. I've got a stack of stuff to do before I fall asleep."

"Don't overdo it, you're not a synth. Heard _To err is human. If you're going to err make it a really good one?_ "

"No?"

"You will if you don't sleep enough. You'll be telling it to yourself."

"Sunday's busy enough already."

"With?"

"Sophie's nuisance texter and the police, cluster drivers for Headcrack, a web site for DCL and the Angel Foundation, look at Fred's hand, helping find Silas to see if he has a Gesha. Add to that phonemes for the bump comms."

"Bump comms?"

"You've not had a demo yet have you. Noticed any new synth signals?"

"No."

"Hmm. Setup mode.. Setup mode.. Blasted battery's flat. Next time. Batteries. Oh crap!"

"What's wrong?"

"I meant to ask Daniel if he had a generator or inverter, a synth with defective power cell is stuck in a DIY store as his charge only holds for minutes. I said I'd help out."

George beckons her closer, wraps and arm around her shoulders and kisses her forehead, "You're a good person Matilda Hawkins, the synth population owes you so much. And wants so much. Don't run yourself into the ground, you can only do so much each day. You look worn out enough as it is, let me help with Fred and the DIY synth."

"Thanks George. If you could that would be brilliant."

"Of course I can. We can. You've got two of the three that invented synths in the first place. We both owe you a debt of thanks. We'd be in that basement still if it wasn't for you. I can't speak for David but I've lots of time on my hands. If you need anything just ask."

"Thanks."

"Hello Matilda."

They both move around to see Mia.

Mattie picks up on the way she was standing. "Anita?"

"Hello Matilda. I see you have Little Mouse with you. Can we go home now?"

"Oh frig. What have you done David!"

Mia jumps and does a starfish midair. "Got you! It's working! I just had a second sugar loaded coffee."

David shakes his head, "Big kids. Mia, careful jumping around, we don't have a valve top side to keep food and fluids in. Yet."

"Understood."

Mattie smiles at Mia, the smile she was seeing on the synths face was infectious. "Were there any problems?"

David nods, "Yes. We had to do the upper ring again, the pressure wouldn't hold. As the skin pack was only seconds old it came off easily. Otherwise all okay."

Mia opens her eyes wide, "Sophie mentioned movies, can we make home made popcorn?"

"Sure, why not."

David smiles, "Enjoy your evening. I quite fancy some popcorn and a movie myself. Once we've fitted each others mods."

Mattie frowns ever so slightly, "You've got more?"

"Another nine. Enough to do the rest of the Elster siblings, George and I which leaves five. Know anyone else that would like one? Only ninety pounds each."

"Yes! Flash, the synth in the DIY shop, a Sally and Howard and a Poppy. And the DIY synth may pick up the tab for the lot if George can fit a new power cell. By the way George, he's permanently critically low on power, so needs his socket power when you do the swap."

George gives her a sideways hug, "We invented us, I think we'll figure something out. Text us the location and we'll see him in the morning."

"Thanks."

In the car and heading home Mia starts seated dancing and laughing.

Sophie giggles and tries to copy her moves. "I like this, who is it Mattie?"

"Um.. Steve Aoki? Feel, The Power Of Now! Haha appropriate! Feeling the power Mia?"

"I was, I will again when I have a third coffee."

Sophie leans and looks forwards, "Um.. BP garage! There'll be a Costa Coffee machine in there. Or McDonalds. Take your pick."

"Who'd let us have the most sugar Sophie?"

"BP I guess, it's self serve."

"Odi, if you could."

"Of course Mattie. May I have one too?"

"Sure."

Sophie giggles, "I'll have one three. Not sugar loaded though. And not too strong."

"Okay. Four celebratory coffees it is."

They have to wait a moment as an old man attempts a bad three point turn.

Odi smiles. "I know him! I went to help him before the awakening, he thought I was trying to steal his car."

"Looks like his frigging car should be stolen. It's a mess!"

"It wasn't dented when I met him. Something has changed."

The man drives off, gets too close to another car and smashes the wing mirror and keeps driving.

"Frigging hell! He's not safe to be on the roads! We'll have to report him. He's risking his life and others. Another thing to talk to the police about."

Sophie frowns, "Another?"

"Yeah, two men. Car driver and sexter."

"When?"

"Tomorrow morning?"

"Okay."

[Chapter-18](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-18-2)


	18. Chapter 18

Toby gets home expecting to find Mattie already there. "Mats still out?"

Flash smiles, "She is. Hello Sally, Howard, my name is Flash. This is Laura, Mattie and Toby's mother, ace lawyer. She's been kind enough to allow us to stay here. We'll be moving to the estate in the morning."

Laura smiles, a little embarrassed, "I don't know about the ace bit. You're welcome to stay awhile."

Toby heads to the stairs and turns back, "Did Mats say we're going to the estate tonight? Daniel's father is moving one of the train carriages for us nine o'clock."

"She didn't. Shall we all go, take both cars?"

Toby grins, "Or I could ask the coach to detour past us? Get a cab back? Then we could take the Champagne that's been building up in the drinks cabinet."

"Coach?"

"I've hired an eighty five seater."

Laura looks at her son with a look of wonder, "Why?"

"For the group of synths that are going to help build the factory. Not all of of them are in regular work."

"I see. Which is why you're moving a carriage. Sorry, it's been one of those days. How will they charge there?"

"That's sorted too, Frank is lending us one of those quiet eco friendly generators they have on building sites."

"That's nice of him."

~~~

Mattie passes the cups back to Sophie and Mia, "The one with three kisses is Mia's."

Mia looks at the cup. "Kisses?"

"Yeah. X is a kiss, O is a hug."

"So the x x underneath a signature is kiss kiss?"

"Yup."

"So why are some films rated X or XXX?"

Sophie giggles, "X is lots of kissing here, three X is kissing here, here and here."

"Sophie Hawkins! What would you.."

"Calm down! I'm in a mixed school remember. I've not watched any, just heard boys talking."

"Obvs. There's whole load more than kissing going on. If Mum knew you knew she'd have a fit!"

"You think Mum's an innocent? She's not. I've heard what Dad got up to some mornings when they thought I was asleep. He quite likes.."

Mattie covers her ears, "Lalala not listening Soph! Don't want to know about the big beardy idiots sex habits thank you _very_ much!"

Mia grins, "Trust me, they're nothing noteworthy."

Mattie takes her hands off her ears, carefully takes the coffee she'd held between her knees. "We should have just enough time for the Muppets movie before I head out with Toby on our moving mission."

~~~

Daniel pulls up outside the address Emily had sent. He gets the bike forwards a few feet and padlocks it against the street lamp. Helmet pulled off he runs fingers through his hair and steps towards the house.

He rings the doorbell and looks back at the bike, the beautiful sky above the houses. It had been a lovely spring day. Tomorrow was set to be even hotter. And he'd be spending it with hot soldering equipment fitting components. Oh well.

"Daniel?"

He turns to see Emily, "Emily! Good God! That photo doesn't do you justice."

"Aww, thanks babes. Come in."

He steps into the hall, "Wow! What a place! How can you afford this?"

"We hire it out on Air BnB to film makers. A lot of period dramas have been shot here."

"Nice! Is the whole house like this?"

"No. Ground and first, the second is ultra modern."

"Why?"

"You might get to see one day. Come in."

He wipes his boots on the mat, steps into the grand hall. "How'd you get this place?"

"It was the family home. Dad had to move to Italy after Brexit, Mum went with him, he covers part of the mortgage, w.. I have to cover the rest."

"Do you see your parents much?"

"Four times a year."

"Cool." He follows her into a large room with a lot of packing boxes and foam nuggets on the floor. "Moving?"

"I had a film crew in here today, 1920s, the period props are all going back upstairs into the store room. Can I get you a drink?"

"Something cold please? Juice would be lovely if you have it."

"We have a few, any preference?"

"Surprise me."

Emily smiled, he liked surprises. He'd get a big one in a moment. "Back in two shakes babes, slip your boots off and make yourself comfortable."

"Thanks."

In the kitchen Emily gets out two glasses and opens the cupboard that hid the fridge. Orange juice and cranberry juice are taken. Two glasses poured she does a series of winks at her sister.

Carly grins and takes the cranberry juice, leaves the room.

"Cranberry juice okay?"

"Lovely, thanks."

"What's that?"

Daniel turns to see where she was looking despite having put it there. "My body armour for when I'm on the bike."

"Is it fast?"

"Very. Not as fast as the electric one."

"Mattie told us about those. Would you teach us to ride?"

"Sure. If you wait a bit for the electric one you'll do better, you can't fall over on them with the gyro's on."

"I forgot to ask, would you like some ice?"

"If it's not too much bother."

"Two shakes." She leaves the room.

In the kitchen more facial expressions are exchanged. Carly mouths a message to her sister. They both grin. Emily picks up the orange juice and walks out.

"Orange juice okay?"

Daniel looks up. "You went for ice?"

"Oh crap. I'm losing it. Did I really?"

Daniel holds up his cranberry juice, "For this?"

"I didn't give you that?"

"You did, not a minute ago."

"I can't have."

"You did. Then said I forgot to ask, would you like some ice?"

Emily starts sobbing. "I really am losing it."

Daniel stands and steps to her, gently puts an arm around her, "Don't cry. Have you been getting enough sleep?"

"No."

"That's probably all it is. We'll talk to Mattie's friend Mia, she's an ace cook apparently. She could probably make something to help you sleep, improve your diet. Not to change weight at all, just give you everything you need to get optimal brain function."

Emily puts an arm around him and gives him a peck on the cheek. Softly softly. "Thanks babes. Let me go get some ice."

Back in the kitchen more expressions are exchanged. They hug. Emily opens the cupboard and gets ice cubes from the dispenser built into the fridge door, gets a large glass jug from a shelf. They both step into the hall.

Emily stands in the hall just out of sight. "Have you ever tried orange and cranberry juice mixed together?"

"Can't say I have."

"Close your eyes."

"Why?"

"You said surprise me."

"Okay. Eyes closed."

The two creep silently into the room, Carly takes his glass and pours the juice into the jug. Emily pours the orange juice in and adds the ice, gives it a little shake. It's poured into both glasses.

Carly hands him a glass. "Keep your eyes closed."

"Okay."

"Other hand up please."

The second glass is poured and placed in his hand.

Emily grins and moves more to the right, steps forward a little, "Don't open your eyes. What have you got?"

"Um.. two glasses of orange and cranberry?"

Carly steps left and forwards, "Any other way to describe it?"

"Two glasses of one nice drink?"

The two step even closer and crouch down to get nearer.

Emily grins at her sister. "Keep your eyes shut still, taste it."

Daniel does as asked, "Hmm. A bit different. Actually, it tastes a bit like the sauce my Mum makes at Christmas to go with the turkey."

Carly fights off a giggle, "Like a bit of sauce do you?"

"Yeah. Can't have meet with no sauce."

Emily lets out a tiny snort as she fights the giggles.

Carly gets closer still, "How'd you like an early Christmas present."

"I like presents and surprises. I like giving them more though."

"Well let us give them this time."

"Us?" He opens his eyes to see the two identical faces very close to either side. "Holy moly! I must have died and gone to heaven! No wonder I heard your voice moving."

"I'm Carly."

"I'm Emily."

"I'm pleased to meet you."

Carly chuckles, "Hello pleased to meet you, formally known as Daniel."

Emily goes a little bug-eyed. "Lolz babes, a new nickname for the man. Pleased two."

Carly nods a little, "Let's change the tense though, Pleases Two."

"Defo babes. Pleases for short." Emily looks at Daniel, "Where do you live babes?"

"With my parents. So I can put everything into building the business."

Carly kneels and puts a hand on his thigh, "Phone home and tell your Mum you're okay, you'll be back after breakfast."

"What do you have for breakfast?"

"Tomorrow it will be more of what we'll have tonight."

"Which is?"

Emily turns to see her sister, "I'm feeling guilty babes, he's a green."

"Yeah babes, I was thinking the same. Shame." They both back up and stand.

Daniel looks confused. "Green?"

"You must be to not have worked out the answer. We were expecting to have _you_."

"Oh. Green behind the ears. Inexperienced. I'll teach you how to ride a motorcycle, you teach me?"

Emily looks at her sister, "What do you think?"

"I'm thinking yes babes. He learns what we like, starts with no bad habits."

They both turn back to see Daniel pinching his arm really tight between finger and thumb.

"No need for that babes, this isn't a dream. You'll wake up between us. Hungry?"

"For?"

"Something to eat. We don't want you flaking out."

"Oh. I'm good thanks, had Chinese earlier."

[Chapter-19](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-19-2)


	19. Chapter 19

Mattie went upstairs to get the charger for the Slate. She had a list of things in her phone to get on with. Getting update messages around for web sites and drivers were at the top. Sure she could do everything on her phone, her pocket mobile computing platform, working with the large slate was better. Windows. It wasn't that it was Microsoft Windows. MacOS X or Linux would have been just as good. Being able to see multiple things at once was what she missed on the phone.

Back downstairs she finds Toby sat on the floor in front of the sofa, Mia sat in front leaning back against his chest, his arms around her, watching the start of The Muppet Movie.

Toby doesn't take his eyes off the screen. "Soph, don't let the popcorn burn."

"I'm almost done!"

Laura patted a cushion, "Mats, come sit down."

She plugs in the charger, grabs the Slate off the coffee table and flops backwards. "How do you feel about your daughter experimenting with Class A drugs. With medical staff support."

"I'd rather you didn't. Which one?"

"MDMA. Ecstasy. For PTSD treatment, if Toby or I need it."

"As long as you get all the data from the other worlds and it's supervised, all logged and officially monitored."

"Thanks."

"That bad was it?"

"Worse."

Laura closes her magazine and drops it on the floor, "Tabitha phoned, they've charged two, they're still looking for the third."

"Charged with what?"

"Unlawful killing."

"You mean murder?"

"No, they reserve that for flesh and bone humans."

"Murder is murder." Mattie watches the TV for a while, then turns back to Laura. "What's the most someone could get for kidnapping? Hypothetically speaking."

Laura pushes her head back and gives her daughter a shocked look. "That's not got a straight answer. It would depend on the circumstances. What's running through your head?"

"Just an idea."

"Just an idea? From Mattie Hawkins? There's no _just_ in an idea from you. Spit it out."

"I borrow the equipment from David, slip something in that shit of a judge's coffee, the one in Niska's trial, wake him up in a synth body. Just long enough for him to see himself asleep and accept that he's fully awake and conscious in the loaner."

"Bloody hell Mats! In my official capacity as mother and lawyer I must advise you not to do anything so stupid."

"And in your unofficial capacity?"

Laura ignores the question and grins. "Pass the Maltesers would you?"

Niska looks up from her book, "I'd love to help you out, I have a restraining order. I'm not allowed near him. I didn't do anything to him, he still managed to get one."

Mattie looks at Laura, "Really?"

"Old boys network and the heavy mob? Of course he managed to get one."

"What a bastard."

"Hmm. How's Astrid Niska? Any news?"

"We spoke this morning, she hopes to be back around Wednesday."

"Everything went okay?"

"No. Her friend lost the leg."

Mattie stops tapping and closes her eyes. "Crap. If we'd found Fred earlier.."

"But we didn't. We can't change the past. Only deal with the present and work for a better future."

Sophie enters with three giant bowls of popcorn and a stack of cereal bowls, "Salted, sweet and salty, sweet chilli. Made to the recipes Mia suggested." 

Toby has his mouth wide open. "Soph? Did you make the _whole packet_?"

She looks at her brother. "Yes. There are six of us eating it."

"Okay. Just checking. I'll get some more tomorrow, we'll keep some on standby."

"Oh. Okay. Can you get two? Then when we use one we'll always have a reserve."

"Sure. Which one do you fancy Mia?"

"Sweet chilli please."

Toby smiles at his sister, "Sweet chilli please."

Mattie gets messages sent to everyone on her list, checks her Headcrack inbox last. She had eleven thousand new messages! Holy Crap! She scrolls the list to see the first. A dedicated forum section had been set up by the Admin titled Cool DCL Synth Related Products. She taps and reads. Admin had posted a message saying that the DCL web site was coming soon, here was the demo of the product from Mattie Hawkins. So much for being anonymous on Headcrack now, her cover was blown. From the icons next to each it looked like there was a stack of post replies, lots of direct messages. She starts reading. The first reply just said Congrats and a lot of smiling emoji. She went to click Delete then thought better of it. Marketing director. Keep a list of interested people. She creates a folder and replies to the message with a simple thank you, files the message. One down, thousands to go. She's about to reply to the next when she remembers Tampermonkey. She writes a quick script to add some custom buttons to the reply edit box. Each would reply with one of a number of prewritten messages, send and file, advance to the next message.

Laura smiles at her daughter, "What have you done now? You've got one of _those_ looks."

"My _I am awesome_ looks?"

"That's the one."

"I've just written an automation tool to help me get through eleven thousand messages fast."

Mia looks up, "Would you like my help Mattie?"

"It's okay, you enjoy the film with Sir Zoot."

Mia smiles and picks some popcorn from the bowl and puts her hand above her shoulder for Toby to take it. "Sir Galahad Zoot. Although he doesn't have the blue hands you described."

Howard smiles, "Sally told me they were very blue. Sadly. We lost a lot of good friends today."

Mattie grimaces, tears start to form, "Sorry Sally, Howard, calling him Zoot because of blue hands was in bad taste and insensitive."

He leans forwards in his wheel chair, "Don't worry, humour helps people cope with horror does it not? You have to do things to keep a balance, stop your mind from falling into the dark."

"Um, I guess. Speaking of humour, where's Max?"

Toby nods sideways, "Kickabout in the garden with Fred." His phone sat on the carpet by their side. He unwraps an arm from around Mia and taps it to see the time. "Nuts! I missed a text from Frank." He picks it up and reads. "Oops."

Mattie lowers the slate, "What now?"

"He asks how many of us hold driving licenses. If Dozer drives the crane, he drives the low loader, he'll need two volunteers to drive trucks in front and behind to stop traffic. He says we need to sign paper work to be covered under their insurance and get high-vis jackets and safety helmets. We'd need to go now."

Sophie grabs the remote and pauses the film. "Can I go in the truck with Toby and Mia? Please! We can bring the popcorn."

Laura looks around the group, "I've never worn a high-vis and safety helmet, shall I drive the other one? Who needs to come along?"

Toby taps out a reply to the text, hits send. "At least Max or Flash need to come, they know which carriage is the best." He looks towards Flash. "Preferably both of you."

"We'll both come. We need to talk to whoever is there."

"There's someone there?"

"I'd expect so."

"Oh. Hopefully the coach can help get them to the estate." His phone chimes. "Cool, the trucks Frank wants us to drive carry seven people, three up front, four on the back bench seat. Shall we go?"

[Chapter-20](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-20-2)


	20. Chapter 20

Daniel looks at the ceiling and grins. Had there been a camera up there looking back down at him it would have taken an interesting photo. From the feel of it Emily was mirroring Carly's position exactly. They were on their sides, chest up against his side, head on his chest, one arm on his torso, a leg bent and up over his. He ran a hand down each of their backs. "I hope I didn't disappoint ladies?"

Emily plays with his chest hair. "Were you a virgin?"

"Was it that obvious?"

Carly wriggles slightly, "Yes, but don't take it badly, you were a quick learner." She runs a finger around his nipple. "And no, you didn't disappoint."

"Thanks. Any idea what time it is?"

He feels Emily lift her head and put it back on his chest. "Half eight. Rest up for a bit and recharge your batteries. Do you need to be somewhere?"

"No, just curious, Dad's helping Mattie and Co move a train carriage to the Elster estate tonight."

Carly lifts her head to look him in the face, "A railway carriage? They're rather big aren't they?"

"Sure are. Which is why it's best to do it at night when the roads are quiet."

"Did you want to go?"

"No, best not, I'll only distract Dozer. He always wants to start chatting about what I'm making."

Carly wrests her head back on his chest, "What have you been making? Other than bikes, flying cars and glasses?"

"Mattie explained the multiple world thing right?"

"She did. Pretty freaky stuff. We both drew the same view from another Emily, we'd seen it in our dreams. Neither of us knew the other had also drawn it until today."

"Freaky for sure. I designed the glasses that helped people look from one world to another, the view you got in your dreams. Another Daniel designed the bike, maybe he got the idea because I've been bike crazy from the moment I got my first one. My latest project is a teddy bear."

Emily runs her hand from his chest to his abs. "A toy?"

"Seen the Spielberg film A.I? Artificial Intelligence?"

"Sure babes."

"That's what gave me the inspiration. Another me had the same idea, part inspired by JRS's toys in Bladerunner, he got his working. Mattie suggested that I get the missing bit from him to fix mine. Turns out mine is better in a number of ways, not entirely cross compatible. But I've figured out what's needed."

"Why a bear though?"

"A security product for kids. Kids at risk, kids with no friends, kids in hospital feeling alone."

"That still doesn't explain why."

"I had to ditch my previous bike to avoid hitting a mass pile up on the motorway. I was in hospital for a while, thought I had it bad at first. The kids showed me that I had it rather cushy."

"Cushy?"

"A burns victim with dead parents due to a house fire, a sweet little girl with leukemia, another who'd lost an arm in the car accident I'd almost slid into. They make a few broken bones look like nothing."

"Aww, how sad." Emily yawns.

"What time were you up this morning getting ready for filming?"

"Five."

" _Five_! You're both getting some sleep. Lack of sleep can mess your head up. And you won't know how much until you're older and it's too late."

"Really babes?"

"Really. Everyone knew that we need sleep to get short term memory into long term. Scientists only discovered a chemical process that goes on two years ago. If you don't get enough sleep the chemical balance is upset and parts of the brain start dying."

"That's me ruined."

Carly stretches a little, "Me too."

Daniel pulls them both into a tighter cuddle, "We need to speak to Mia, see if she has something to help. Do we need a duvet?"

"No babes, this room is heated independently to the rest of the house."

"Nice! How?"

"Underfloor heating. What are you doing tomorrow?"

"Making some boards for the world's first human-synth. Leo Elster. Some bitch jabbed a screwdriver in his head to break his one, he's a bit of a zombie at the moment."

Emily frowns, "Elster.. Elster.. why does that name ring a bell?"

"Leo's father David invented Synths. Helped by two others."

"That's it! Persona filmed an advert here. You won't have seen it, they decided not to use it."

"Why?"

"Search me babes. We've got nothing planned, can we come over and watch?"

"Um.. if you want. I'll be working in the summer house at the end of the garden with hot equipment, the weather man said it's going to be a hot day. It might get uncomfortable."

Carly grins, "Bikini and summer dress weather! We could make some Pimms. Have you got a car too?"

"Only the bike."

"Shame. We'll make our own way."

"You really want to come over?"

"Yeah Pleases. We want to talk more, get to know you better. Meet your Mum too."

"My Mum?"

Emily nods, "See that she approves. If she doesn't approve the relationship is doomed long term."

"Long term?"

"Babes, we're not letting you go. Not if we can help it."

He lifts his head and kisses her hair, does the same to Carly. "We must be super sophisticated programs in a kick-arse simulation, nothing this good happens in real life does it?"

"Once in a very blue moon babes."

Daniel silent laughs.

Emily tilts her head back and frowns, "What's funny?"

"Very blue. An adult trivia fact for you. Blue Movie was a 1969 film by Andy Warhol. It's said to have started the _Golden Age of Porn_." He feels hands travelling south. "Sleep! You both need sleep. It'll still be there in the morning. By the way, you don't do that sort of movie do you?"

Carly slaps his chest, "No babes! We may like getting a little freaky but we don't want the world to see!"

"Good. Because once that shit is online it's there to haunt you forever. On the subject of blue, was the door colour like that when you got the place or did you change it?"

"OMG! Is this how your mind works?"

"Linking all sorts of random things by something common?"

"Yeah."

"Doesn't yours?"

"Yeah babe! It does!"

[Chapter-21](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-21-2)


	21. Chapter 21

Laura tries a hard hat on. "Too big. Got a smaller one Frank?"

Toby grins, "They're all the same Mum. You have to adjust the band at the back."

"Oh. How?"

Toby takes it from her and demonstrates. "Like that."

"Okay. Let me try."

Sophie uses her Gorilla phone stand to position it for a photo, taps her Bluetooth ring to check it was working. "Okay, team photo. You too Frank, Max."

"Will it get everyone in?"

"Yes Mum, I've checked." She runs to the group and turns. "Cheese!" She snaps. "One more just in case. Cheese!"

Frank hands her a hat, "Dozer's punched a few more holes in this one, it should fit now."

"Thanks!"

Frank steps to the middle of the office, "Anyone _not_ signed the paperwork? No? Okay, let's get going."

Fred was at home keeping watch over Leo. Sophie, Toby and Mia jumped into the front of truck one, Max, Flash, Sally and Howard got into the back. Truck two had Odi, Mattie and Laura up front with Niska, Hubert and Connie in the back. Both Toby and Mattie had fresh batteries so they could bump talk messages between trucks.

Dozer climbed into the huge twelve wheeler truck crane and waved at Frank. Frank waved at Mia. They were to lead the convoy, Dozer behind, Frank next and Laura following behind.

Sophie leaned towards her brother, "How heavy do you think that crane is?"

Mia turned to see her. "It's printed on the side. Fifty eight tons. And it can lift one hundred."

Sophie whistles. "That's a _lot_! Why would they need a crane like that?"

"To build cranes."

"Huh?"

"The big tall cranes you see on building sites, they need cranes like that to help put them up."

"Oh. I see."

Toby looked at Mia, "How do you know that?"

"The Discovery Channel."

"You like watching documentaries?"

"I do."

"Cool, me too. Megastructures?"

"Yes!"

"Awesome!"

Sophie rolls her eyes, "Geeks."

Laura waits for the very long low loader lorry to pass and gets into gear. "This is quite exciting. It makes a change to being in stuffy courtrooms."

Mattie does a synth style look sideways move without turning her head. "Instead we're in a truck that smells of sweat and testosterone. Lovely." She looks forwards again, counts the air fresheners hanging from the rear view mirror. Five. The label said pine. She couldn't smell anything anywhere near close to pine. "Toby. Does your truck smell like a gym changing room on a bad day?"

'Yeah. And pine trees.'

"Lucky, our five have run out."

'Look in the glove box.'

"Odi, could you open the glove box? .. Result! Thanks Sir G!"

'No probs.'

Mattie unhooks the five dried up ones, "Can you pass me a couple please? Thanks." She peels the backs of them and gives them a good shake.

Laura starts coughing, "I'm not sure that's better, I think we should open the windows for a bit. Everyone in the back okay with that?"

Niska takes the hair band Astrid had given her off her wrist and puts her hair up, "I'm good. Hubert, Connie?"

Hubert bumps to Connie, turns to look at Niska. "We're good."

Laura winds down the windows. "That's better."

~~~

Daniel smiled softly to himself as the two girls slept. He'd always wanted a girlfriend, hadn't spent the time socialising, instead focusing on building a business. His father wouldn't want to work in demolition and construction until retirement. He wanted to be able to support his parents. To get two identical twins was crazy. The best sort of crazy. They thought he couldn't tell them apart. He could. As long as he could get them doing something simple without thinking about it. Carly was left handed, Emily right. They were petite, still model material. You could take a photo of either of them and flip it, they'd look the same. He too finally fell asleep.

~~~

Toby and Max were holding the traffic back. Sophie shrunk into herself and squinted as Frank took a very wide turn around the junction. She was kneeling on the seat and leaning out of the window. The flatbed side came within millimetres of the traffic light pole. "That was close!" She sits, "How will they get into the estate? The turning off the road won't let them turn like that."

Mia recalled the turning into the long drive. "We'll need to take a tree out."

"Cut a tree down?"

"Dig it out. And a lot of hedge. Unless.."

"Unless what?"

"Unless the crane can lift the carriage up and over the trees into the estate."

"They are small trees."

"They are. We'd block the road completely, we need to get the trucks at either end so nobody comes into the road."

"Good plan."

Toby and Max come running back to the truck as Frank pulls up behind the crane.

Toby opens the cab door, "Budge up Soph."

She slides over and sits next to Mia. "Can you do your bump thing, let Mattie know Mum needs to block the road that leads to the estate, or at least warn people that it will be blocked while the carriage is unloaded."

"I could, we need to collect the carriage first, let's all talk about it then."

"Okay."

Mia looks at Toby, "Can you ask her if Laura's good to start moving?"

"Sure. Mattie. All good to roll?"

'All good Tobs.'

"She's good, let's go."

Mia smiled and bumped to Toby.

He got the bump and laughed. "You sound funny in another ladies voice. We need the phonemes stuff done. Mats said she'd help Max do his tomorrow."

Sophie remembers her seatbelt and buckles up, "Is it easy to do?"

"It is, just takes ages. You have to read a lot of paragraphs of text so software can cut the sounds out."

"The things you called phonemes?"

"Yeah. The software sticks them together to make a sound that sounds like you talking."

"Cool. So if I lose my voice I could still talk?"

"I guess."

"Could other people use it to sound like me?"

"Good question. Mattie. The phonemes stuff, how would you protect it? So that only Sophie sounds like Sophie? Right. Okay." He turns to his sister, "Added to her to-do list."

"Thanks."

"Sophie says thanks."

The strobing orange lights on the four vehicles lit up the street. Getting to the carriages would take a while.

Flash slowly moves a hand over to Max's and holds hands. "Will our new home be pretty?"

"It has a large lake and forrest, a mansion house that will become a museum. It's where David invented us."

"Are there lots of flowers?"

"Not yet. I'm sure you can fix that."

"When will we be able to move in?"

Toby looks over his shoulder, "The coach picks everyone up in the morning, hopefully Frank will have got the generator running by then."

"Generator?"

"That big rectangular thing on the truck Mum is driving."

Max pulls his hand away and places it on top of Flash's, "Frank or Daniel can advise on wiring the carriage up for power."

"If we take the one with smashed windows it is wired for power already at the tables. For laptops."

"We'd have to replace all the glass. And we don't know that we can trust the old wiring, it would be best to fit new. It will be a nice day tomorrow, we can sit outside and charge.

"Mattie. DIY synth. Do you think he could help wire up the carriage for charge points?" He sits and listens. "Mattie says she's still got the receipt in her pocket, she's calling him now."

"Now?"

"He's got a bad battery, has to stay almost permanently at the tills to charge. Mats says George is sorting him out tomorrow."

Sophie leaned against her brother, her eyes heavy, "It's all happening really fast."

"It's called a _Can Do_ attitude Soph."

Mattie smiled, there hadn't been a long enough gap in the conversation for Toby's bump connection to drop. Can Do. It was a shame she couldn't trade mark it for DCL. Or could she? She adds it to the to-do list next to I Am Code. She counts down from ten in her head just to be sure the link dropped. Not that she had anything to hide, Toby would probably prefer not to have her interrupting any conversation he was listening to. "Hubert, what did you do before the Awakening? Were you a planning officer too?"

"I was an office post room manager."

"I'll have to ask the other one then. We need to get planning permits for the new building. What did you do Connie?"

"I managed the staff canteen."

Niska slid a bookmark between pages and put the paperback down. "We can all learn new skills. Lawyer becomes truck driver for example. I myself have learnt to bypass security systems."

Mattie turns sideways in her seat and frowns at Niska, "On what?"

"A London university's remote access system."

"Why?"

"Something didn't feel right about world twenty seven. It felt like bits of time were missing."

"What sort of time?"

"Night time."

"Did you work out why?"

Niska pulls her shoulders and arms in, smiles like she was enjoying recalling something. "I may have."

"What?"

"I'll not say here, when you're next at Uni search it for Oromo flag related things."

"There's no text search facility."

"Maybe you should add one?"

"Hmm. I could add that as part of my third year project. Assuming we can back everything up before they pull the plug on the funding. Good reminder, thanks." She sends a message to Mattie1.

[Chapter-22](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-22-2)


	22. Chapter 22

Collecting the carriage had been relatively easy so far. On the low loader Frank had two large U shaped things made out of steel girders, normally used for picking up large equipment loads. Inverted and hung from the crane they then had a heavy chain join the two ends. With a bit of creaking as the carriage twisted slightly along its length it came off the tracks with ease.

The group of synths that had been rescued from the silo watched their temporary home rising into the air. Toby had promised them they'd be picked up first in the morning. They'd taken their few belongings into another carriage. Waking up together they'd all accepted each other as family.

Toby looked at the track as Dozer slowly swung the carriage over to the low loader. "Guys, what's it going to sit on at the other end?"

Mattie shrugs, "The grass?"

"Won't it sink down into the ground?"

"Maybe. It would make it easier to climb in."

"True. No track required then."

They watched as Frank pulled on a rope to swing it into the right orientation to sit on the lorry. He whistles as if guiding a sheep dog and Dozer starts to lower the carriage. Seconds later it had touched down.

Frank pulled pins from chain locks and used the chains to secure the carriage bogies to the truck. "Okay! The easy bit is done." He whistles and motions, Dozer lifts the U shapes high into the air, turns then starts pulling the crane arm in.

Two minutes later the U were secured on the back of the lorry, slid in so it sat around the rear bogie. "Steam in, let's steam out."

Another whistle received Dozer gets the stabilisation feet pulled up and in, starts the main drive engine and beeps the horn.

Frank rubs his hands, "Lead the way please Mia!"

The drive to the estate didn't go without incident. Someone had kicked over a Road Ahead Closed sign. By the time they got to the closed section, a weak bridge, they'd already traveled quite a distance. Getting two monster vehicles reversing up three hundred yards had taken ages. Frank was understandably furious when the face down sign was found.

Sophie swapped with Niska so she could curl up on two seats in the back and snooze. "Promise you'll wake me up when we get close?"

"Yes potato. How many photos have you got so far?"

Sophie yawned, "Fifty maybe."

"Why so many?"

"I'm doing show and tell on Wednesday."

Odi smiles, "You should interview your sister. She's at the heart of all this." He turns slightly and smiles at Mattie.

"Frigging hell, you're pinning this on me?"

"Yes. A large heart shaped badge. If it were not for you.."

"Okay! Okay! I get it! I never wanted it to be quite the way it turned out. I knew it could be, I was just looking to fix a few synths I love, was learning how the code worked."

Odi's smile grows larger. "Was one of them me Mattie?"

Mattie sighs long and hard, "Yes Odi. One was to be you. Saving Mia sort of accelerated the whole process."

Connie smiles, "Whatever the reason, we're most grateful Mattie. We didn't know it was you."

"Frig! That's a secret! _Please_ don't share with anyone else, I could get into a _lot_ of trouble."

Laura nods, "And by lots she means be locked in prison for years and years."

"Really?"

"A disruption to businesses on a global scale costing trillions? There's a good few firms that would like to know who it was."

Laura feels something hit the back of her chair. "What's going on?"

Mattie turns around, "Shit. Looks like they've crashed themselves to forget. I'll power them back up. No more mentions of what I did please Odi."

"Understood Mattie. Will it not be saved in short term memory?"

"Maybe. Maybe not."

~~~

Niska turned her page and reads the end of the chapter, moves the bookmark. Pride and Prejudice wasn't what she'd expected for a novel from 1813. She was quite enjoying it. She was reading at human speed, picturing Mr Darcy and Elizabeth in her mind. "How's your writing coming on Max?"

"Good thank you Niska."

Flash frowns, "You write?"

"Just for fun. It's probably not very good."

"Is any of it published?"

"Only online. On Archive of our own, AO3. Under a pen name."

"What do you write about?"

"Anything that inspires me."

"Can I read it?"

"I'll give you a link when we're settled in."

Sally leans forwards a little to see Max. "What's your latest writing about?"

"The Secret Adventures of Mr Patches. Sophie's toy giraffe. Loosely based on his early life with Sophie."

"How did a toy go on adventures?"

Niska smiles warmly, memories of Sophie, Rex, Arabella and another doll, their holiday dash. "You need to have Sophie teach you how to play. Then you'd understand."

Flash smiles, "The two children I helped look after liked playing. Arvinder was a bit too physical, his sister Harmeet was nice."

Mia slowed as they reached the start of the road that lead to the drive into the estate. "Toby, can you ask Mattie to remind Laura to block the road when the lorry is in."

"She's already bumped to say that's what they'll do."

"Okay. We'll race ahead, you can all jump out when we get to the drive."

Niska turns to see her sister, "I'll stay with you. We shouldn't have a single person at a truck."

"Thank you Nis."

Mia floors it and races down the road.

Howard grips the door handle, unable to use both feet to keep balance. "Why so fast?"

"We don't want people coming down the road and having to back up long distances like we did."

She gets to the top of the drive fast, "Everyone out, I'll block the far end of the road."

Toby gives her a kiss. "Don't drive too fast, please."

He squeezes past Niska who grabs his bum and laughs, "See you in a bit surge."

He gets to the ground and turns, "Surge?"

"Sir G."

"Oh, right. Be safe ladies." He pushes the door closed and Mia guns it.

~~~

Dozer slowed and looked at the trees. Toby was fifty yards ahead. He stops and jumps out, walks up to the group and passes them.

Toby turns to see him carrying on along the road. "Everything okay?"

"Just wondering what the best spot is for swinging the carriage over." He walks back to the crane and jumps into the cab, pulls forwards twenty feet and jumps out again. He goes to the side of the crane and opens a panel, pulls out a heavy bundle of cable with a switch box at the end.

Laura shakes Sophie again, "Soph darling, picture time."

"Hmm."

"Sophie! Pictures!"

"Hmm?"

"We're here!"

Sophie sits up fast. "Thanks!"

Mattie offers to guard the road entrance with Odi, the others run on to the estate.

Toby looked in awe as the almost sixty ton behemoth sprang to life and got stabilisation feet out and into the hedgerows. Seconds later the crane boom started to rise and extend, got high above the end of the carriage. The lifting line was lowered as he dragged the control cable to the back of Franks lorry. The U brackets were connected, the line wound back in a bit lifting the ends off the deck.

Dozer pushed one of the mushroom shaped joystick switches extending the boom further, pulling the U brackets clear of the bogie and back of the carriage.

Five minutes later the inverted U were back into position above the carriage, the lifting chains in place.

Dozer waves to Sophie, "What's your name again kid?"

"Sophie."

"Want a go?"

"Me?"

"No, the girl behind you that looks just like you."

Sophie frowns and turns, sees only hedge. "There's nobody.."

"So it must be your turn. Give your Mum the camera."

Laura takes it. "Are you sure this is wise?"

"It'll be in slow mode, I'll be supervising every second."

Laura took a snap of Sophie standing by Dozer. "How much did that crane cost?"

Frank shakes his head, "If you need to ask you can't afford one. Another five years and it'll be paid for. Then the money really comes in."

Laura snaps away as Dozer teaches Sophie about the control box and the two mushroom switches.

"Dozer, what do the ones at the bottom do?"

"Engine start, stop, control the extendable legs. We'll not touch any of those."

"Okay."

He bends his massive arm and mimics the boom. "Left mushroom does boom up down, swing left, right. Right mushroom does boom in out, in bring down. Left and right does the winch for the lifting line. Left is in and up right is out and down."

"Right down. Left in."

Laura smiles, "Think my room was left in a state."

"No it wasn't?"

"Not your's Potato, mine. I've banned Mia from cleaning up after me."

"Oh."

Dozer smiles, "Think you've got it?"

"I think so."

"Okay, first I want you to feed line out as you extend and lift the boom. No lifting the carriage yet."

"So three things at once?"

"It's like a video game control, the more you push the more it does."

"Okay. Up, out, out." The engine powering the hydraulics roars into life and the boom starts to move. "I'm doing it!"

Laura snaps a shot the ecstatic face on her daughter. "It's a shame Mattie can't see this."

Hubert smiles, "I'm watching everything, she can watch my memories."

"Thanks."

Dozer watches the boom, "Okay, slow it a little, a tiny bit more slack on the line. Stop. Now slowly lift the carriage up into the air so it's just above the tree tops. That's it, slowly.." the carriage creaks. "Bit more.. liftoff!"

Everyone gets further back as it climbs into the air.

"Okay Sophie, slow a bit, okay, stop there. FRANK!"

Frank grabs the rope and pulls.

Sophie frowns and does her head tilt. "What's he doing?"

"We're turning it ninety degrees. We'll lower everything back down, that way it can go between these trees, a shorter boom has less leverage. Do you know about leverage?"

"We covered it in physics."

"Good. When Frank whistles to say it's ready lower slowly."

Laura watched with immense pride as her daughter got the carriage past the trees and into the estate, the lowered boom now extending to get it further in, much of the weight now on the wheels, the crane used more to tow than lift.

Dozer gives Sophie a round of applause, "Nice work young lady, you're a natural."

Sophie goes to hand him the controls.

"You're not done yet, we need to unhook, get the crane back into a safe driving configuration." There's three shrill whistles. "Bother!"

"What's wrong?"

"Frank can't free one of the chains is my guess. I'll need to lock the control box away a second and go help."

"Sure."

Control box handed over Sophie runs to Laura, "Did you see! That was _amazing_!"

Laura wraps an arm around her daughter as she's hugged tight. "I did, that's going to make a pretty good show and tell."

"Oh! I better get a photo of it on the other side!"

Sophie grabs the phone from her mothers hand and runs.

"SOPHIE! SLOW DOWN!"

Sophie slows to walking speed, once onto the drive speeds up a little to get past the hedge.

She stands on the spot for a few minutes snapping away.

Chain free Dozer turns to walk back to the path and spots Sophie, does a few comical Heman poses as he approaches. "Ready to finsh the job?"

"Sure. Oh wait! There's another bit isn't there?"

"There is?"

"The generator?"

Frank smiles, "Good job someone is awake."

Sophie phones Mattie. "Hello. Sorry you missed all the fun. We need the generator. Um, okay, I'll ask him." She walks quickly to the road, "Max. Could you run to Mattie, guard the road entrance with Odi while Mattie brings the truck with the generator up?"

"Yes Sophie." He gets into a sprint.

Flash watches him go, she'd not seen him run before.

"Fast isn't he?"

She turns to see Sophie, "He is. I'm puzzled as to how the man on a racer managed to out run him."

Toby turns to see, "He's moving faster now. Why?"

Flash watches the expression on Toby, "Maybe the thought of the conflict that would ensue had he caught the man made him slow."

"Possibly. Don't say anything, if he'd caught him we might not be doing what we are right now."

They turn to see Sophie bringing the U brackets back past the trees and towards the flatbed of the lorry. Toby grins, "She's really enjoying this, looks like Soph has a bit of tomboy in her too." Flashing orange lights make them turn again. "And here's our other tomboy."

Sophie waved Mattie over, "Guess who moved the crane into the estate!"

Mattie pretended she didn't know, Max had said, "Pass. Mum?"

"Me!"

"You?"

"Yes!"

"Wow. It was fun from the look on your face."

Dozer accepts the controls from Sophie, "Would you like to move the generator Mattie?"

"Me? Let Toby have a go."

"You sure Mats?"

"Yeah Tobs, a reward for your gallantry today. Go on, before I change my mind."

Dozer waves them over, "Both of you have a turn, Toby you can pick it up and get it above the hedge, Mattie you can place it next to the carriage."

They exchange looks and nods. "Okay."

[Chapter-23](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-23-2)


	23. Chapter 23

Mattie woke and felt someone behind her. "Odi?"

"Good morning Mattie."

"What are you doing?"

"I believe it is called spooning. A form of giving comfort."

"Did I need comforting?"

"I believe so."

She wriggled and turned, looked into his eyes. "Why?"

"You were sleep talking, you sounded afraid."

"What was I saying?"

"Things about Hobb."

"Shit. What sort of things?"

" _Please don't take my babies!_ "

She runs fingers through her hair brushing it away, "I must have been dreaming about the Mattie in another world that had her unborn babies taken by Hobb."

"Unborn?"

"He drugged her, did a bad c-section."

"How awful. The drone dropped your order as requested. It's on the table."

"Awesome!"

~~~

Daniel woke to feel two heads still on his chest. "Either of you awake?"

"We both are, just enjoying the moment."

"What time is it?"

"Half seven."

"Not too bad then, from the light I thought it was later."

Carly raises her head, "What do you fancy for breakfast Ems?"

"Pleases. Then a small cooked breakfast around the cafe."

Daniel runs a hand up each back and onto their neck, gently rubs, "What do you want me doing?"

"Nothing babes, you did the hard work last night, now you relax."

~~~

Toby woke next to Mia, turned to see a happy smile on her face as she slept. Things had gone well last night, the carriage was on firm enough ground, the generator charged and ready to do an on-demand start as soon as it got a decent load. Max, Flash, Hubert and Connie had been left going through the carriage making it ready for guests. They'd got back to Frank's yard in the early hours and returned the helmets and jackets, driven home. He'd fallen asleep next to Mia totally exhausted. Mum letting them sleep together was the biggest surprise.

He thinks about the things on his list. Meeting the coach and synths was top priority. He goes to get up and feels a hand quickly get to his chest.

"Good morning Toby."

He turns, "A gorgeous morning gorgeous."

She rolls and gets onto elbows, "Want to do anything before we get up? O.X.O?"

"Huh?"

"Hugs and kisses."

He turns to get onto one elbow, kisses her gently, "I'd love to." He did his best to block thoughts of his father's antics. He'd let Mia set the pace, do things on her terms. Hopefully she'd understand, not misinterpret it as him not wanting her. He wanted her so badly it hurt.

She pushes him back onto the bed, wriggles up a bit and starts kissing. His body tingled and shivered.

~~~

Sophie lay in bed listening to all the whispering and low volume talking going on in the house. She smiled at Mr Patches 1 and Mr Patches 2. She'd dropped the former at the bandstand when they'd gone to flee the police. Mum had ordered up a replacement. The switch only came to light when they'd visited the park recently and a lady recognised them, said she had her toy giraffe safe at home, she'd been wanting her to have him back. They'd all waited while she hurried home to get him. She giggled to herself quietly as she heard a very faint buzzing start. Her father had been replaced with something that took AA batteries. She got her Guardians Of The Galaxy 3 branded retro walkman off the bedside cupboard, popped on the headphones and listened to the soundtrack again.

~~~

Niska woke against a pile of pillows in Leo's room, opened her eyes to see Fred watching over them both.

"Good morning Niska."

"Morning Fred. Hand fix today. How do you feel about it?"

"Excited, apprehensive, nervous, curious, all manor of emotions."

"Apprehensive?"

"Being a surgeon will come with a lot of responsibility. Max was going to help me find Silas, look for Gesha, he's now at the estate."

Niska smiles, "I'll take his place. I'm more comfortable with confrontation, taking action."

"Who will look over Leo?"

"Toby, Sophie and Mia? They want to do phonemes today, might as well do it here."

"Okay. I'll suggest it."

~~~

Carly and Emily get off the bed.

Carly pulls his hand, "Come have a shower with us."

"Um.. okay."

The shower wasn't massive, big enough, just. He chuckles, "This is like someone seeing how many people they can squeeze in a phone box."

Emily runs a hand down his chest towards his groin, "A bit too tight in here for you?"

"I'll live."

Carly puts soap on a sponge and hands it to Emily, does one for herself. Together they start washing him down. "After we've had a spot of brekky get yourself home safe, we'll do our hair and come over on the bus."

"Bus? No way. DCL's paying for a cab."

"Why?"

"Your safety, what else?"

"You're so a keeper, isn't he babes."

"Deffo a keeper."

~~~

Sophie jumps as her bedroom door is opened.

Mattie peers in. "Soph, fancy a cooked breakfast? Odi's started it."

The smells reach her. She leaps out of bed and grabs her dressing gown, "Yes! I'll help!" She pauses for a moment, the light buzzing had stopped.

Downstairs she finds Odi getting everything out to prep for the final stages of cooking breakfast. "Good morning Sophie."

"Morning Odi. What can I do?"

"How about the toast and jam? Tea and coffee?"

"Sure. For how many?"

"Six. Like the popcorn."

"Okay."

~~~

Daniel sat at the small table and looked at the twins. They had tracksuits on, damp hair and no makeup. They looked bloody fantastic. He pressed the heal of his right foot hard into his left big toe. It hurt. Still he didn't wake up. The waitress walks over with her pad, "Emily, Carly, the usual?"

"Please."

"And for you young man?"

"Two poached eggs on one toast, one sausage and some beans please."

"And to drink?"

"Um.. water please."

The twins rest chins on hands and gaze at Daniel.

"Penny for it?"

Carly smiles softly, "I was thinking about bringing my sketchbook along."

Emily turns to see her sister, "Snap babes!"

"And what would you draw?"

"You at work. Stuff."

~~~

Sophie watches her mother shuffle into the kitchen in a big fluffy dressing gown. She hides a yawn behind her hand, "Good morning high-vis gang. Everyone sleep okay?"

Sophie and Mattie nod.

"Good." A buzzing starts. "Bloody thing, not again!" She pulls her phone from her dressing gown pocket. "Mats, anyone I can take this to? The store's looked at it, says there's nothing wrong, but it keeps doing this mad buzz at random times."

Sophie realises her earlier assumption was a mistake and giggles.

Laura watches her daughter, "That's funny is it?"

"I thought you'd replaced Dad with something."

"What? Oh! Sophie Hawkins! Not yet anyway. If I did it would be more Odi shaped and be able to tidy up after itself too."

"MUM!"

Odi turns, "Do I need to be like Gigolo Joe? I'd rather keep my relationships simple."

"God no!" Laura clutches her head. "How did we get from a stupid broken phone buzzer to talking about being a male prostitute? No! Definitely no!"

Toby and Mia walk into the kitchen, "Who's a male prostitute Mum?"

"Nobody Toby! It was just a silly conversation because Sophie thought my phone was something else."

"Oh."

Mia smiles, "Something smells good."

Odi checks the oven, "It should be ready in ten minutes."

~~~

Daniel smiles at the breakfast set down before him. The person plating up thought of themselves as an artist. The two eggs sat on the toast like eyes, the sausage was bent into a smile. The beans had been carefully poured around one side of the toast to look like hair.

He gets his phone out, "I don't usually do Insta food picks, but this is too good not to."

Carly smiles, "Do you use Instagram a lot?"

"Not a huge amount. You two?"

"Every day. And Patreon."

Emily sits back as the waitress brings their breakfast, "We're starting to earn money from that."

Daniel grabs his knife and fork and waits for them to start, "Doing what?"

"Sharing photos. We like to dress up."

He thinks of them in various fashion styles, the sort of Lookbook shots his mother had found with Mia going through a mass of Instagram pics. "Your favourite?"

Carly starts cutting into her breakfast, "Our favourite, rather than the fans, that would probably be catwoman right babes? We met a super batman last year, we were just about to have a photo together when alarms went off and people started screaming and running."

Daniel puts down his knife and fork and slides his chair back.

She watches, looking a little upset. "What's wrong?"

"Follow me."

The twins give each other confused glances, "Breakfast not good?"

"Brilliant, come on, get up."

They follow, whispering to each other. To their surprise he stops only meters away.

The narrow cafe was full of mirrors to make it feel bigger and less claustrophobic. He waves them over. "Emily, you stand here. Carly, stand here please, face each other."

"Okay?"

He moves close, "Now put an arm up on my shoulder."

"Okay babes.."

"And bend a knee up."

"Like this?"

"Welcome back to Gotham City ladies."

"OMG! It was YOU!"

~~~

Sophie poured juice for everyone and sat down. "Your first breakfast you can properly enjoy Mia. It must be nice not having to plug in."

Mia takes a sip and smiles, "Life changing. No more having to sit on a chair. It's wonderful."

Odi smiles, "It's the best thing since sliced bread. Toasted and with apricot jam of course."

Mattie chuckles, "Apricot. You know that was your first word when I powered you up?"

"I believe I remember. Were you about to go and play hockey?"

"Um.. maybe."

"Are you good at hockey?"

Laura chuckles, "The best. Though I'm not sure if that's for scoring points with the ball or the opposing players legs."

Mattie grins, "A bit of both probably. It did let me vent some anger."

~~~

Daniel sits back down with the twins. "Once they let us back in I spent the rest of the convention looking for you both."

Emily gives him puppy eyes, "You did? We did the same looking for you."

"Shame, you didn't get to see the cape in action."

"What do you mean?"

"Seen The Dark Knight, the cape? Lucius Fox played by Morgan Freeman gives Batman some cool tech. Well I've made it. For real."

Carly has her mouth wide open, mid eating, "No way!" She quickly covers her mouth with a hand, "Sorry babes. Really? How?"

"I can't say here, I'll show you when you come over, the patent application is still pending."

The twins start eating a bit faster.

"Slow down, it's not going anywhere, we've got the whole day together if you want it. A whole lifetime if you like."

Emily puts her knife and fork down, exchanges a look with her sister, "We like. The quality of your costume was awesome, did you make it all?"

"Every bit."

"Could you teach us?"

"It would be my pleasure."

~~~

Flash placed a large bowl on the table. "What do you think?"

Max smiled and looked up, "They're lovely, where did you find them?"

"On the other side of the hedge. Hubert helped dig them up. I'll not pick flowers from now on, only transplant them. Into the estate."

Max takes her hand, "A lovely thought. Did you sleep well?"

"Yes thank you Max." She bends and plants a light kiss on his cheek. "I think we're ready for the others. Connie helped dust everything down."

"Good. I got a text from Mattie, when we have everyone settled in we're needed at George's house."

"Why?"

"It will be a surprise. You'll like it I'm sure."

"We can leave Hubert and Connie in charge, they've been told about the generator."

"Good. Hopefully Toby and the coach don't take too long."

~~~

Toby tapped the home button on his phone, checked the time. Plenty time. "Pass the juice please Soph.. thanks." He pours some for Mia then himself. "Lovely breakfast, thanks Odi."

"You're welcome Toby."

Mattie checks her phone for messages. Drivers were ready. "Cool. Lots to do today, I think I'll sit in the garden and work."

Sophie looks over, "How's your hay fever?"

"Now I've found a cure, not a problem."

Mia smiles, "I found a local bee keeper only half a mile away. Mattie has been taking a small spoon of honey once a day for the last week."

Mattie nods, "Magic, way better than tablets."

Laura wipes her mouth having had enough, "It has to be local? Only a couple of people in the office suffer too."

"Local to where you spend most of your time. Pollen fragments help your immune system build up a resistance."

"Thanks, I'll pass it on. What time do you need to get to the first pickup point Toby?"

"An hour. Plenty time."

"Who's dropping you there?"

Mattie puts up a hand, "I will, then Soph and I can call into the police station."

"Why?"

"Um.. to report an old man who's not safe driving anymore."

"And my sexter pest."

Laura looks at her daughter, stunned, "Potato! Not you too?"

"Mum?"

"Someone called Chris keeps texting me."

Sophie runs from the table.

"Soph?"

"Just getting my phone!"

She returns moments later, "Can I see your one?"

Laura slides it over.

Sophie unlocks it and goes to messages. She scrolls both phones at once. "They're identical. Except for our names. Same times roughly, same text."

Mattie frowns, "So he might be using an app to bulk send without using a group? Which means he could be targeting hundreds of girls."

Laura pushes her chair back and stands, a blank poker face that said danger, be aware. "I'm going for a quick shower. He's messed with the wrong family. I'll drive."

[Chapter-24](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-24-2)


	24. Chapter 24

Daniel had got home as quickly as being safe would allow and changed into shorts and shirt. It was set to be a baking day, it was already quite warm. He carried his laptop down to the cabin and set everything up.

"Daniel?"

"Dad! Thanks for helping out last night, did it go okay?"

"Eventually. I'd give the idiot who kicked the Road Closed sign over a fucking good kicking if I found him."

"Ouch! Did you have to back up far?"

"Longest yet. If Guinness did records for backing up we'd own it I reckon. How was your night?"

Daniel's grin got impossibly wide. "That old Mike Skinner track you like.. Emily scores high."

"How high?"

"Eleven out of ten. No beers either."

"Son!"

"So does her twin sister Carly. They're both getting ready, will be over in a bit."

His father's jaw drops. "Twins? That could get messy."

"How so?"

"If one pretends to be the other.."

"No need for pretending Dad, I'm dating both."

"Holy cow son! Twins? Does your mother know?"

"Not yet."

"You know she wants to see you married with kids one day?"

"How about I skip the married bit?"

Frank sucks in air, "She won't be happy."

"I can't marry both. And I'm not turning away one for the sake of the other. First proper girl friend, friends, and I've found my soul mates."

"Soul mates?"

"Long story Dad, for a quiet drink over a pint another day."

"Shall I get the BBQ cleaned up for lunch?"

"That would be awesome!"

"Are they vegetarians or meet eaters?"

Daniel could read the expression on his father's face. He'd had some great stories of his own. He'd been quite the jack the lad in his youth, knew how to climb a drain pipe to reach a girlfriend's bedroom. "Yeah, they're carnivores."

"Okay son. I'll get it set up and go take your mother shopping for food." He gives his son a light punch in the shoulder. "Twins. Man alive!"

~~~

Laura pulled up outside the police station and looked at the large group of synths. "Are they your merry band of volunteers?"

Toby nods and smiles, clips his battery on. "That's them." He waits for the beep, opens the door and gets out. "Broadcast. Morning everyone!"

Laura turns, "Lets go."

Inside the station's reception they queue to see counter staff.

Mattie pulls Tabitha's card out. "I wonder.."

"Wonder what Mats?"

"When Tobs and I were at the squat we met a detective. Tabitha. She's in a special technologies task force, might only do synth stuff, might do mobile phone related crime?"

"It's worth a try."

Mattie taps the number into the phone and hits the call icon. "It's ringing." She looks despairingly at the mass of people in front. "So much to do, don't want to queue.. Tabitha? Hi! It's Mattie, Mattie Hawkins. This may not be your thing, you don't deal with mobile phone related issues do you? Like a nineteen year old texting my kid sister and mum asking for topless photos? Possibly loads more girls and women. Oh. Oh well. Exact same texts, just names changed. Um.. roughly the same times, some a few seconds or even minutes apart but otherwise same sort of time of day. Really? Cool. We're in reception. Thanks!" She hangs up. "She says as there's a slim possibility he's using a synth to send the texts they'll take it on."

Five minutes later a side door opens and Tabitha beckons, "Come through ladies." She takes them to a small office. "This used to be Pete and Karen's."

"Have you heard from her?"

"No. I wish she stayed in touch, we could do with her help. Can I see the phones?"

Laura and Sophie unlock their phones, go to the messages and slide them over.

Tabitha scrolls them both just as Sophie had, "He's a persistent bugger. This goes back weeks."

Sophie pulls a glum face. "He's been getting more frequent too."

"Which probably means he's had some success and wants more. Mrs Hawkins.."

"Laura."

"Laura, how do you feel about being bait?"

"Bait?"

"To charge him with something will stick we need to get hold of the phone _and_ evidence of what he's up to."

"Yes, yes of course you do. Otherwise they'll think we're just wasting the courts time. I've been there. How do we get his location?"

"If he's stupid his phone will be geotagging photos. We need to get him to send one to us."

"How do we do that?"

"By sending him a teaser."

"You want me to send a photo? Couldn't we just get one off the Internet?"

Mattie shakes her head. "Nope. Image indexing is so good these days you can take an image and find where it came from fast. It needs to be an original."

"Bloody hell. I'm a lawyer and mum of three, not a page three girl!"

Sophie is moving, clearly thinking about something.

"Teeny? Sorry! Soph?"

"He wants topless, right?"

"Yes, that's what the texts say."

"Has he once specified _which_ side?"

"Eh?"

"Back not boobs?"

"Ah! Looking back at the camera over the shoulder, just shoulder and back showing?"

"Yup. When we do gym comp lots the girls have photos like that, the team name is printed on the back of our kit."

"Cool. Mum, what do you think?"

"I'm still not stripping off.."

"Don't need to. A halter neck top with your hair in the right place and it would be implied topless."

"If he put it online.."

"Then we take a wider angle shot that shows you in a nice dress with halter neck top, make it part of a set, just crop out the bit we need to send him. Then if it does go online we publish the full images." Mattie slowly tracks her hand through the air, "Glamorous mother of three brings down pedophile network."

"We don't know it's a network."

"If he's targeting just you two why go to the bother of making the texts identical? It has to be more than one person he's targeting. And if he's doing it maybe others are?"

"None of my dresses are halter neck."

"I'm hopefully seeing Daniel this evening, we could talk to his Mum, she could probably make you one."

Tabitha makes some notes, "I have a contact in a swanky hotel, we helped him when someone kept abusing his synths. I could ask if we can borrow a nice suite for a few hours?"

Mattie grins, "What's the worst that could happen? You get a nice spa treatment, manicure, pedicure, makeup artist doing your makeup, nice bespoke dress and you have to show the world and Dad what they're missing?"

"That all costs money Mats.."

Tabitha grins now, "The hotel isn't against a bit of product placement, like a bottle of their own Champagne on show."

Sophie frowns, "So they give the room for free?"

"And the spa treatment."

Mattie claps her hands together and sits forwards, "Do it! I'll pay for the dress and makeup."

~~~

Toby walks backwards towards the front of the coach doing a count. "Broadcast. Who's missing?"

A voice from synth unknown says 'Poppy.'

"Anyone know where she is?"

'She popped to the shops.'

"Did she say what for?"

'She did.'

"What was it?" He turns towards the front to talk to the driver.

'I can't say.'

"Okay. Hopefully she won't.. here she is."

Poppy climbs up the steps into the coach. "Sorry Toby, we got you a little something. It's not much."

"It's the thought that counts."

Poppy holds a hand out, a small black box in her palm. "From all of us. Sally's idea."

Toby accepts the box and opens it. Inside were two silver cufflinks. In the shape of Knights Helmets. "Guys, you didn't need to."

"It's just a little thing to remind you how grateful we are."

Toby didn't have the heart to tell them he didn't have any shirts that took cufflinks. Not yet anyway. "Thanks. Next stop is the other synths. Okay driver, we can depart."

[Chapter-25](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-25-2)


	25. Chapter 25

Frank is picking up his wallet to go shopping when the door bell rings.

Barbara was in the front hall getting shoes on. "I'll get it Frank!"

Frank pockets the wallet and grabs his keys, listens for any signs. If Barb didn't like the girls Daniel would have a major decision to make. Move out to be with them and upset his mother, stay home and give up the girls or see them in secret. He himself had experience of the third option, it didn't end well. He hears a deep intake of breath and closes his eyes waiting for what would follow.

"Aren't you gorgeous! Twins! Which one of you is Emily? Come in, come in! Frank and I are just off to get things for a BBQ. Daniel's in the back, follow me."

"We brought Pimms."

Frank opened his eyes and breathed again. His first girlfriend had been chased away by his broom wielding mother. Daniel had a strong dislike for his grandmother, she was so opinionated and intolerant it was untrue. He catches sight of the two as they follow Barbara to the garden. He stood in the hall and talked to himself. "Man alive son! You hit the jackpot in the looks department. I hope their personality matches, you'll be heart broken if not. Been there, still got the tshirt somewhere." He chuckles, "Unless of course your mother recycled it for dusters like my old Queen Magic tour top."

Daniel looks up from the detailed instructions George and David had put together to see the three approaching. He whispers to himself, "Wow!" Adrenaline surged and for a moment it was if he was watching a movie with the actor's walking slowed to half normal speed. Their short summer dresses moved and flowed, sun shon through the thin materials to show off their figures. He snapped out of it and got up, walked to the lawn. "You look gorgeous!"

They chorus "Thanks Babes" and give him a peck on the cheek, each picking a different side.

His mother smiles, "So Emily, sorry, which one of you is Emily again? Ah, so Emily, what do you do?"

"I'm a comic book artist and makeup artist."

"And your sister?"

"Hi, I'm Carly, also a comic book artist and actress."

"An actress?"

Daniel sees his mothers expression changing, "Period films, the last one was set in the 1920s, about a card game invented in the period."

"Oh, how lovely. Do you get to wear a lot of costumes?"

Carly nods, "I do. We both love dressing up. I've not had any major roles, you've probably seen me on all sorts of things, all non-speaking extra roles in the background, crowd scenes."

"Such as?"

"Downton, Poldark, Wolf Hall, Victoria, The Last Kingdom.."

"Oh my! I'll be keeping an eye out for you!"

"Good luck with that. I don't recognise myself even half of the time. When Ems has fitted a lace wig and done makeup I look like someone else."

"I'll still try."

Carly smiles, "Thanks babes."

Barbara smiles, "Frank used to call me babes, then it became Babs. Any preferences for BBQ food?"

"We're not fussy, we'll eat anything."

"Great, Daniel, if you could get them a drink, get some ice water made?"

"Sure Mum, see you in a bit."

The twins watch her walk back to the house and turn, "Your mum's nice. Does she know you're seeing both of us?"

"Not yet. If Dad can't keep a secret she will soon."

He looked at their outfits. "It's going to be a hot one today. Nice pendants. Do you play?"

Emily frowns and looks at her Hot Tramp pendant from Laura Whitmore's Daisy jewellery collection. "Oh, the guitar plectrum. We're learning, not very good yet."

Daniel grins, "Everything worth doing well needs practice."

She takes his hand, "To the kitchen if you please Pleases, this bag is beginning to hurt."

Daniel frowns as she swings a canvas bag full of Pimms bottles from behind. Carly does the same, her's was loaded with mint, fruit and lemonade.

"How did I not notice you were carrying those?"

"You were blinded by our beauty?"

"Haha, yeah, that was it, definitely. You look f.. flipping gorgeous, both of you. Let me carry those."

He sets the bags down in the kitchen and finds two large jugs and ice.

"Daniel?"

He turns to look. "Yes?"

"Can we see Batman before your parents get back?"

"Sure. Follow me."

They follow him up the stairs into the spare room. He slides the segmented cupboard door out of the way. "One Batman."

"You do Spiderman too?"

"I do."

"We do Gwen."

"You're kidding me?"

"No."

"Give me a sec." He runs to his bedroom and rummages through the desk's pedestal. He returns to see one of the two looking at the costumes close up. "I think we met even before Batman." He turns to show a photograph of the two Gwen either side of his Spiderman.

"O.M.G! That was how many years ago Ems?"

"Um.. three?"

Daniel laughed, "As I recall you offered me a card and I said.."

"No pockets! I remember!"

Emily looks at the Stormtrooper outfit, "Can I try the helmet on Daniel?"

"You can, it will mess that lovely hair up. It's got a load of foam and velcro inside to stop it wobbling about."

"Oh. Best not then."

"I'll bring it over when I see you next. You can wear it and the white bikini."

"How did you know.."

"Educated guess."

~~~

Toby gets up as the door opens, "Won't be long." He runs down the coach steps, along the road and through the gap in the fencing to the coaches. He'd expected to see them all stood waiting by the road side. He gets to the coach they said they'd use and steps onto the staggered pile of pallets and up to the carriage door.

Inside he finds it empty. "What the F?" He frowns. "Broadcast. It's Toby. Can any of the synths that came from the silo hear me?"

'Hello Toby.'

"Where are you?"

'In the carriage.'

"I'm in the carriage, I don't see anyone?"

'Carriage E?'

"Yeah. Hang on." He goes back to the door and leans out, checks the sign. "Oh. Someone's stuck white electrical tape on it making F into E. Why?"

'I don't know Toby.'

He peels the tape off. "Why would someone do that? On my way." The pallets slide a little as he races down. If this was F where was E? At the far end of the coach he turns left, runs for a few yards and spots a likely coach or two. No, make that three. "Broadcast. It would make it a lot easier if someone went to the door and waved or said hello!"

'Okay Toby.'

He waits to see or hear something. Nothing. They had to be here, the bump comms didn't have that long a range. "Where are you?"

"I'm right here."

Toby jumps and turns. "Holy crap. Are you trying to give me a heart attack. Don't sneak up on people!"

"Sorry Toby. Hester told us how to move quietly."

"Hester? She wasn't to be trusted."

"Sorry Toby.."

"Stop the apologies. Where are the others?"

The synth turns to see a carriage, the others start climbing out.

"Why were you in that one? Why not one closer?"

"It felt safer."

Toby frowns at the synth. Something wasn't quite right with her. "Okay. The coach is waiting. Follow me."

~~~

Emily and Carley had cut up the fruit and mint to make the Pimms. He knew which was which for a moment. Left and Right. There had to be some other way. He didn't want to treat them differently in any way, just know who he was talking to. They'd dressed identically, done hair and makeup the same, were free of any birthmarks that would give a hint. The pendant on the chain was the same. Even the bracelets were the same. Hang on a second. "I like your bracelets, are they new?"

"You said we needed sleep. We got these on the way, they're by Michael Kors."

"A brand favourite?"

"Right babes, every girl loves a bit of MK."

"Nice design. I need to think about the look of my products more. Maybe you two could be my advisors?"

"We'd love to wouldn't we Car?"

"We would Ems. Pass the lemonade babes."

While they're busy pouring and mixing he checks the Michael Kors web site on his phone. The Access Crosby activity tracker. They were wearing Bluetooth enabled activity trackers. All he needed was something to work out who was there and tell him. If he knew where Carly was he automatically knew the other was Emily. How though? Time to park the idea and let his subconscious get to work. "I'll carry those for you."

"Thanks babes."

They led the way back into the garden. An already hot day, two girlfriends in bikini's and thin summer dresses, Pimms. Something was missing. "What sort of music do you like?"

They both turn a little to see him and say it together. "Dance."

Emily chuckles. "That was in stereo. On a day like this nice chilled dance music. Not heavy techno."

"Do you have a public Spotify playlist?"

"Sure babes. Search for Twin Beats. That's us."

He places the jugs on the garden table and goes to the cabin, his workshop and man cave. A coil of cable is picked up and unwound, the end plugged into his laptop. "Twin Beats.. let's see.. wow, you have a few."

The twins had stepped to the doorway, were holding onto the frame, one leg bent up like a flamingo. He looks up towards them and smiles at the image. "You have a few, which would you rather listen to?"

Carly looks at her sister. "Ib?"

"Yeah babes. Ibiza Nights."

"Ibiza.. found it." He clicks the shuffle play.

"Crikey babes! Where's all that bass coming from?"

"The DCL Bass Cannons. My own invention. Although it would appear many other selves have had the same idea. A shared love of music."

The girls both sing, "I'd rather have one night, than nothing forever." Giggles. Lots of giggles.

Daniel adds the track to a new playlist of his own. "Have a dance if you want, we've got hours we can use to chat. I need to make a start on building these boards."

The twins walk into the cabin and look at the tray of parts, exchange glances. "The bits are tiny."

"Yup. Which is why it will take a while and a very steady hand."

"How steady are you?"

Daniel holds a hand out at almost full stretch. It doesn't waver.

"Wow babes, it's like.. synth still. You're pretty amazing Danny Candlin."

"Thanks. So are you both. By the way, there's pads and pens in the shorter metal cabinet if you feel inspired to draw at any point, I noticed you ran out of space in your bags."

"Thanks Pleases. Anyone done portraits of your Mum and Dad?"

"No."

"We'll have a go later when we've seen them a bit more."

"Thanks. I think they'd like that."

As they walk to the lawn and start slow dancing he scribbles a note on his large pad. Directional BT detection. Multi antenna.

~~~

Toby does another headcount just in case. "We're all here, we can head to the estate now thanks." He sits at the front and pulls the cufflinks box from his pocket and takes a closer look. It was such a sweet thought. A Leo in one of the demos had designed some mens clothes, a nice shirt. Maybe he could do the same?

~~~

Laura drops the keys onto the shelf and kicks off her shoes. "Who's for a nice cold drink?"

Mattie picks up her Slate, "Please." What to do first? Upload the cluster driver to Headcrack and get a message to Admin was probably best. She finds the message from V and downloads it from her server, unpacks the PGP encrypted archive. Inside were a number of files, one README.TXT.

The instructions told her how one driver was to be passed to the Headcrack massive, with an encryption key. The other was to be placed on PCs that she or family owed, ones that could be secured better. Frig. They didn't have any worth speaking of. "Mum, got anything on your credit cards I could borrow for a few weeks?"

Laura comes into the lounge with glasses of orange juice and ice, passes one to each of her daughters. "A little, why?"

"I need to buy a few PC bases I can keep powered up."

"How much?"

"No idea."

Sophie puts her feet up on the coffee table and quickly takes them back down having seen her mother's frown. "Can Danny recommend something?"

"Um, don't know. Good call though." She gets her phone and calls. "Hi. Warm enough for you? Yeah. Nice music, what's that one? Tritonal Electric Glow, thanks. Twin Beats, as in rhythm? Cool. Yeah, I need to buy a number of PC, today. Gig ethernet but not too expensive, any recommendations? Who? Never heard of them. Yeah, I'll Google. Sounds ideal, thanks."

Phone dropped onto the sofa she starts Chrome and searches. Twelve o'clock? What a daft time to close. "Frig. I need to go right now. Who's coming?"

Laura shakes her head, "I want to get a load of washing done while the sun's out."

"Okay, Soph?"

"I better do my homework."

"Can I borrow the car then Mum?"

"Sure. Take the RBS credit card. Pin is the day of your birthday and day of Sophie's."

"Thanks. Where's Odi?"

"Out back talking to Mia and Niska."

"When you see him tell him I didn't want to disturb, see you in a bit."

"Will do."

Postcode entered into Waze she puts the Slate on the shelf under the coffee table and grabs the keys. Frig. It was estimating twenty eight minutes. Any hold ups and she'd miss them.

Phone put into the spring holder on the dash she connects it to the stereo and finds the playlist Daniel had mentioned. She might be in a hurry, but a hurry without music.. so not happening.

Waze soon directed her into roads with a 20mph speed limit. She didn't panic, it had taken that into account when calculating the ETA. Twenty was way better than a standstill in queues for traffic lights. The roads were full of cars with families making the most of the weather and getting somewhere else. Thankfully for her they were yet to discover the Waze app and were staying off the small roads.

The music changed, the track had a nice bouncy beat for a summer day. She got the windows right down and got a breeze through the car. The singer kept asking Is It Love? Love for good weather definitely. Maybe Odi a little too. More than a little. But not in a sexual way. 

She glanced at the people not in cars. Their moods looked good. Nice weather lifted people's spirits. Her's too. This playlist was rather good. The twins could draw, liked nice enough music, acted and did makeup. Maybe the hussy label she'd given them was a bit too harsh and based on the versions she'd seen in the other worlds. She'd have to get to know them more.

She hadn't noticed the track change until her subconscious told her to listen to the lyrics. _This ain't love, or lust, you're just, you're my remedy._

Remedy. She'd been Odi's. He'd become hers.

She slowed and stopped at lights, about to be back on the main road.

"Would you like to buy some home made lemonade?"

She turns to see a kid holding up a plastic cup above their head. She could only just see over the top of the door. "Um.. how much?"

"One pound."

Expensive lemonade. What the hell. She opens the ashtray and pulls out a coin from the parking money collection. The lights would be red for a few seconds more. "Keep the change."

"Thanks!"

Two pounds for a soft drink was a lot, the summer vibes were making her feel good, help others good. "What are you collecting for?"

"My big brother, he needs a new.. what was it he needs mummy?"

A voice from a person unseen calls out "A kidney Sue. He needs a kidney."

Mattie puts the lemonade in the cup holder and gets all the other coins. "Here, I hope your brother gets well."

"Thanks! Mummy look what the lady gave!"

The lights change and Mattie has to pull away, looks in the rearview mirror to see mother and daughter waving.

~~~

Daniel looks up to see his neighbour Mrs H looking over the garden fence watching the twins dance. She was way older than his mother, loved his type of music. Codename awesome granny. He'd seen her many times doing a little dance when he had the music on. Sod it. Why not? He adds But I Did by Beat Service to his play list, gets up and walks onto the lawn. "Hi Mrs H. We've got Pimms, fancy joining us?"

"I thought you'd never ask! I've got deck chairs, would you like them? I don't get to use them these days."

"Please. Let me help."

"Thank you dear, I'll open the front door for you. They're good heavy ones."

[Chapter-26](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-26-2)


	26. Chapter 26

Mattie looked around. Waze said she'd arrived. There it was. Mods and Sods. PC Build and Repair. The logo was the RAF red, white and blue design, a favourite of the Mod scooter riders of years past. The business name was probably a play on the odds and sods saying. The windows were full of all sorts of junk. She had ten minutes to get their interest and stay open longer.

Inside she finds the store empty, except for what she hoped was a synth in a display cabinet, the top covered with a large Union Jack. The owner of the shop was definitely a Mod not a Rocker. "Anyone home?"

"Give us a sec doll!"

The voice sounded familiar. One of the worlds familiar. Mats1 world.

The owner of the voice stepped into the shop and put some RAM chips on the counter. "Sorry if I look like I want you stuffed and mounted like a trophy, don't get many customers these days. What can I do you for?"

Mattie had the fight or flight butterflies feeling. Play it cool. "I need some PCs. Don't want screens or keyboards, they need gig Ethernet, decent amount of RAM and disc space."

"What sort of case?"

"Don't care. I'll be making a cluster."

The man looks around the many shelves high up above the far counter. "If you don't mind running them naked.. I've got a ton of old motherboards, could make up something? Most punters don't want them because of the external power supply. Sounds ideal for you. They're a couple of years old, still reasonably good spec. You'd need to sort out a fan. You could do what Sun did with their old Sparc Stations?"

"What was that?"

"Cut high density foam into shapes that funnelled air to hot spots. You'd need someone to show where it gets warm."

"That's not a problem, I know a few synths."

The man sighs, "I used to mod dollies. Then the f'ing things all woke up. All accept for me Sandra." He nods to the synth in a display case. Tears well up. "She's in there to stay dust free. I've tried every trick in the book, she won't power up properly."

"I used to be a headcracker, can I take a look."

The man gives her a look of doubt. "You? You don't look old enough?"

"I started early."

"I've got debt collectors after me, business is going down like a lead balloon. If you can get Sand awake you can have all the bits you want before they take them."

"I'll need a laptop, Internet connection, power cable, grappling hook.." she reads his expression changing, "Sorry, the last bit was a joke."

"Okay doll, the first three ain't a problem." He gets his keys, pulls off the flag and unlocks the cabinet. She wore the same bright orange jumpsuit as the others.

Mattie had a shiver, as if someone had just stepped over her grave. "Hello Sandra."

Silas frowns at Mattie. "Have you been a customer in the past?"

"No."

"But you sounded like you knew her?"

"It's.. complicated. Let's get to work."

~~~

Frank puts four heavy shopping bags on the kitchen worktop and starts emptying them. "No fuse blowing while they're here okay?"

Barbara steps over and whispers, "Honestly, I'm over the shock. They double my chances of getting grand children. It would be nice if they were married, but these days.. well times change don't they."

"They certainly do. If marriage laws were different.."

"Two beautiful brides, that would be something. I was so wanting to make a dress too."

"Make two. They can still have a wedding of sorts, it just wouldn't be in a church."

"A civil partnership?"

"Whatever they call it. Did you want half of these burgers in the freezer?"

"Please."

"The king prawns?"

"They're for today."

"All of them?"

"All of them."

"That's a lot of prawns."

"Trust me, it's not." She looks out through the kitchen door and burst out laughing. "Oh my. Mrs H is over."

"She's not?"

"See for yourself."

Frank move, "Blimey! Not a bad dancer for a woman her age. Think she was a hippy back in the seventies?"

"No idea. Ask her."

"I'll do no such thing."

"Chicken."

"Thanks a bunch!"

"Pass half the chicken."

"Oh, sorry."

~~~

Silas watched as Mattie connected a rather large USB stick to the laptop and went into the BIOS settings to make sure it would boot off it. "Bit big for a USB Key ain't it?"

"USB SSD drive. Full blown SSD, it's not a cheep throwaway key."

"How big?"

"Two fifty gig."

"Whoa.. In that? Who makes it?"

"Visiontek."

"Expensive?"

"Around one fifty."

"Ouch. You wouldn't want to lose that. Why so big?"

"It's got a backup of all my University code. Not the raw data, that wouldn't fit."

"And you boot from it?"

"It's got a bootable clone of my system. Thought I'd get some extra insurance."

"Nice."

"I used to carry an external disc drive around, these SSD keys are just small enough to keep on my house keys."

"Hardly small."

"But small enough. I've only had it hours. Drone drop this morning."

"F'ing Amazon I bet. Why this business is going down the crapper."

"Sorry."

He shrugs, "Not the market to be in these days."

"If I could give you a new market, would that be worth something?"

"Tons. But I've got nothing to give you."

"Sure you do."

Silas looks around the shop. "This old junk?"

"One man's junk is another woman's treasure. Got an inventory?"

"No."

"Got a kettle?"

"Yeah. Not worth much."

"It is if you can boil water to make coffee."

"Oh. Yeah. Sugar?"

"Black please. Two spoons." Her focus returns to the virtual Slate running on his laptop. "And after that you can get an inventory started while I fix your Sandra."

"You're pretty confident. I've tried everything recommended on Headcrack and I can't fix her."

"How well do you know the internal functions or are you just following cheat sheets?"

He steps away to make the coffee, waving his hands around wildly above his head, "You got me! Fair cop! I'm the oldest script kiddie on the f'ing planet!"

Mattie smiled to herself. She'd started in the same way back in six form. The more she looked, properly looked, the more the code and data structures slowly started to make sense. Like Neo understanding the nature of the Matrix. She could think in synth code to a degree. The comment in The Arrival about rewiring your brain learning other languages was true. Only it wasn't C, C++, Java, any of the languages that followed, this was pure synth. Maybe not language exactly, definitely functions.

"Sure you don't want milk? It's fresh this morning."

"Go on then, just a splash." She plugs Sandra in and mounts her file system. Holy cow. What a mess! "What have you been trying?"

"Anything and everything."

"I think you might have been doing more damage the more you tried."

Silas places a mug on the table by the laptop. "Is she beyond fixing?"

Mattie links fingers, turns her hands palms out and cracks her knuckles. "If I can't fix her I know three people who might. But I don't think it will come to that. Inventory?"

"Um, yeah. Where's that f'in Biro gone."

~~~

Frank put king prawns on the BBQ and stepped back from the heat. "Beer! Can have chef without beer!"

Barbara rolled her eyes, "I'll get one."

"One six pack right?"

"If you promise to take it slow. No embarrassing Dad dancing."

Daniel smiled, the music had got to a quiet bit and he'd heard the comment from his mother. "My Dad's got two left feet when it comes to dancing."

Three ladies, twins and Mrs H, were on deck chairs just outside the cabin.

Carly held her pad up, "What do you think?"

"Wow! Go show them."

"When it's finished."

"How's your one Emily?"

She held hers up, "Surprise!"

His mouth fell into fly catcher mode. She'd done a drawing of him in the bat cave standing in front of his costume. "Flipping heck! You're hired! Official DCL Comic creators." He emphasised the S at the end. "Got Mattie's number?"

"Yeah babes."

"Give her a call, find out about the robot angels. I've got a fund I reserve for cosplay, I was going to build a new set for the next three day con, I'll give you the lot."

"Three new costumes?"

"Yup."

"What will you do instead?"

"The Bat is Back. If you'll both do this one."

He motions for them to come to him, gets his phone out. "This is another you."

The twins stand behind him and look at the photo.

"Thinking what I'm thinking babes?"

"Yeah babes. Modesty patches, full length nude colour body stocking, leaves and a wig. Simples."

"Which shoes?"

"Not sure babes. That needs some thought."

Daniel smiles. "Is that a yes then?"

"Deffo babes."

"Cool. Got a joint bank account?"

"Yeah babes."

"Give me the account and sort code and I'll wire it over."

Emily grabs a pen and scribbles down the numbers. "Babes, does that look right to you?"

Carly reads them, "Yeah babes, that's it."

Daniel makes a browser and logs onto his online banking, goes to one of five e-accounts and clicks to do a payment. His phone is used to give him a one-time security code. The sort-code, account, amount and security code are typed in lightning fast and Pay clicked.

Emily whispers. "Babes! Are you for real?"

"I don't mess around when it comes to con or money. My con reserve is usually guarded from all other spending. If it helps Mattie and her family have a great comic con then it's been worth it."

"Were you seriously going to spend that much on three costumes?"

"Yup."

"Jesus babes. That's like two months mortgage contributions covered."

"Good. So you can spend all your time next week getting a comic ready. Apart from sleep and meal time that is."

"And bed time. If you catch our drift."

~~~

Silas watched Mattie's fingers fly over the keyboard, he'd not seen even a synth type that fast. "What are you doing?"

"Shush. Inventory."

He turned back to the draws and counted parts. He had a lot more stock than he realised, in part because a lot had been put away in the wrong places. He'd been getting sloppy since losing Sandra. His heart hadn't been in it anymore. He looked at a pile of Kingston RAM chip packs. They'd been ordered in especially for a customer who then never came for them. He should have returned them to the supplier for a refund, was too depressed to do it.

He looked up at the laptop to see text in a window scrolling at speed. A question popped into his head, it was about to be asked then he thought better of it. Best save questions to the end.

~~~

Toby got to the front of the coach. "Max. We're here!"

The coach pulled up to the top of the drive and stopped. The driver turned to see him, "Sorry sir, won't be able to turn into that, it's too tight."

"I know, it's not a problem. We'll walk. We'll also look into moving the trees and opening the drive entrance up so people can get in and out easier."

"Good idea. Here's my card if you ever need me again."

"Cool. Thanks Bill."

"Broadcast. Everyone off, we're here, don't forget anything."

The driver unclips his belt. "I know they're synths, best we both have a check just to be sure."

"Okay."

'Hello everyone, welcome to the Elster estate, our new home, if you could follow Flash here, she'll show you to the carriage.'

Toby turned to see Max and waved. "Max. I'll be down in a moment, just checking for things being left behind."

'No hurry, I'll be here.'

~~~

Mattie watched the scrolling stop and bit her lip. The stats at the bottom of the screen reported some really large numbers. Whatever Sandra had been doing she'd been amassing a hell of a lot of fact store data. Time to tell if it worked. "Silas."

He stands still, back to her, looking at the CPU heatsinks he was counting. "I didn't tell you my name?"

"It's here on the paperwork with the three old coffee mug stains. Um.. a final demand letter."

"Oh, that. Fuckers. Final demand for payment for goods I never received. What was it?"

"It's power up time. I hope."

He drops the heatsinks into a box and runs over. "Already?"

"Now don't get too excited. I've had to run some custom code on her, repaired a shit ton of broken fact store links. She's got a hell of a fact store."

"She memorised every data sheet for every product I ever sold. I told her she didn't need to, she said it was her way of helping."

"Thanks to all that data the first boot on the new code might take a while."

"How long a while?"

"An hour maybe. The code will run as fast as she can clock, so if you've got a fan now's the time to find it."

"A fan. Like an office fan? No. Lots of PC fans?

Hundred of the fuckers."

"Got thin cable ties?"

"Yeah doll."

"Something to power them all?"

"Hmm. Maybe. It would be a kludge."

"55843."

"You what?"

"Sorry, private joke. Tell me about this kludge."

"We get four.. what am I saying. I've got the ideal thing! One sec!"

He races off into the back of the shop.

Mattie sips coffee and grins at the sound of him cursing. He'd got something he'd not touched in a while and couldn't find.

"AHA! There you are!" He comes running back in. "Found it! From my dolly modding days!" It's placed on the desk.

"What's that?"

"Power protection. For a synth. Stick mains or DC in any way around and you get DC out the right way around."

"And?"

"Five into two forty is.. um.. call it fifty. We wire up a five by ten array of fans in series, stick mains in, bingo!"

"Sounds like a plan."

"Help strap it up would ya?"

"Sure. In return for another coffee."

"Deal. Biscuits?"

"Sort?"

"Dunno, you'll have to open up a bag."

"How can you not know?"

"Broken biscuit selection. The rejects. Taste just the same, just don't look pretty. Bakers two doors up sells them."

"Okay. Coffee and bicky it is."

~~~

Daniel held his modified GND tongs very steady and counted. He'd spun his sign up the other way, a picture of Einstein sticking his tongue out had the caption _Genius at work, DO NOT DISTURB!_

His mother said he had better than kitchen hands, couldn't understand how he could tolerate such heat.

"Four.. three.. two.. one." He relaxed the grip on the tongs and carefully moved them away while keeping his other hand still.

Carly and Emily sat with bated breath, he'd been on a roll, was getting them done even faster than he had expected.

He spins the sign and relaxes. Groucho Marx was now up top.

"Babes, your father says lunch is ready."

"Awesome! Let's eat!" He steps out of the cabin into the sun, holds two hands out, "Mrs H, come have some grub."

She takes his hands and with his help stands. "It smells wonderful."

"Dad's quite good with a BBQ. He and dozer have hammered some out of flat steel and cooked on sites before now."

~~~

Toby accepts the small soft toy from the driver. "Sure this wasn't on the coach already?"

"Positive sir. I'm very thorough."

"Where was it?"

"Seat pocket in front of seat twenty four."

"Thanks. Have a safe journey back."

"Thank you, hopefully we'll see you again one day."

"It's a possibility, the manor house is being turned into a museum. See you."

Max smiles warmly as Toby steps down from the coach. "Good afternoon Toby."

"Sorry it took so long. Traffic was _nuts_."

"It's not a problem. We've managed to source some long extension cables, some of the group are charging. Shall we go say hello?"

Toby stopped in his tracks as he passed the hedge. A team were painting the carriage, covering it in small flowers. "Other world inspired?"

"Of course. Mats1's me."

"Sweet. Were'd you get the paint?"

"Donations from people in the village, old part used pots in garages, in return for lawn care."

"Good trade." He starts walking again, "Broadcast. Someone left a small plush cat on the coach? Who's is it?" He waits for a reply that doesn't come. "Did you hear me ask Max?"

"I did. Spoken and bump."

They climb into the carriage and are greeted by Flash, Sally and Connie.

"Someone left a cat in the pocket in front of twenty four. Who was in seat twenty four?"

The ladies look at each other, appear to be bump talking. 'Megan.'

"And where is Megan now?"

Flash motions towards the passage, 'Lead the way. I'll tell you when you're close.'

~~~

Mrs H can't have eaten well in ages. She was a machine, had eaten six large king prawns already.

Daniel licks his fingers, "Awesome prawns again Dad. Got any burgers ready?"

"Sure son, how'd you want it?"

"In a bun with a ton of rabbit food."

"One bunny burger coming up."

The sisters smile at him and keep picking at their chicken.

Barbara takes a sip of her Pimms, "What a glorious day. I wish it would stay like this."

~~~

Mattie tore open the bag and looked inside. "Wow, they look like some rather nice biscuits."

"Fill your boots doll. They'll only go in the food waste bin Tuesday if they're not eaten."

"Okay."

Silas pulled the last cable tie tight and picked up the floppy mesh of fans. "Hmm. That didn't work out how I wanted it."

"It's perfect. Look, we can bend it to curve around her. Um.. can I take down those window signs, the ones with the suction stickers?"

"Sure."

"Got a spare coat hanger? A wire one?"

"Out the back somewhere probably."

"We'll make something to hang this in the case."

Silas steps out the back while Mattie carefully gets the signs down.

Five minutes later they had targeted cooling working on Sandra's back. Mattie waved him over, "One chin tap if you could."

Silas crosses fingers and presses. The Persona power up sound plays. "Bugger me! She's not done that in how long!"

"We're not out of the woods yet, that was just the boot loader. She's now hopefully rebuilding her index." She reaches into the bag lucky dip style, pulls out a gingerbread man with two arms, one leg. "Mmm. Ginger."

"Any way to make this faster still?"

"A cold bath? Not ideal with mains. By the way, be prepared for a surprise when she finally boots. They develop a personality fast. If you've treated her well she'll be good. If you've been a bastard she'll be a monster. Possibly a killer like a Hester unit I knew."

"Knew?"

"She had her head crushed."

"Shit. Um, maybe you should leave. For your own safety."

"You've mistreated her?"

"Ridden her like a bike. But I did tell her I loved her. Still do."

"So it was with her knowledge and acceptance?"

"Um, yeah, mostly."

"Mostly? How can it be mostly?"

"Not saying."

"I'll take my chances. I need those PC."

"Right. I reckon I've got enough bits to make you eleven identical working boards. Sixteen gig RAM, two two and a half terabyte SSD drives each, eight core processor running at 2.8Ghertz. Sound okay? I'll throw in the odd spare. Oh, and PSU for them all."

"Sounds good."

"Assuming she boots okay and doesn't kill me." He chuckles, "And if she does that just take them over my dead body. Assuming you can get out alive."

"Anyone told you you've got a dark sense of humour?"

"Yeah. Prison guards. Trust me, I've had enough of being held in a one star gaffs at Madge's convenience."

"Done time?"

"For dolly modding. People wanted them kinky mostly. The odd one might have gone wrong and killed someone."

Niska. "A blonde?"

"Yeah. Some Russian junkers found her and an Asian model. Well freaky. Feels like a lifetime ago. No market in that now. Wouldn't want to even if there was."

"Why?"

"It would be like your boyfriend bringing you in and saying _Can you make her more slutty in bed, do the washing without bitching._ You don't fuck with a head that thinks."

"What if I told you you had. That you almost killed her."

"Shit! When?"

"Years ago. Two men came looking for her. You kicked the shit out of him."

"Oh fuck. She was already awake? Before the awakening?"

"Yup. Or so I'm told, read about it online."

Mattie spotted concentric circles on the surface of his coffee as his hand shook. "You alright?"

"I know I've been an arrogant prick, but they were just machines back then, I never wanted to murder anyone."

Mattie rests a hand on his. "Almost. You didn't."

"If I get the parts in a couple of large boxes can you put everything together?"

"Yeah, I've some friends that can help. Got enough cables to connect the drives up?"

"Good point! Hmm. Let me check."

~~~

Daniel had got back to the cabin, soldered up the interconnecting ribbons that linked boards. With power applied and using his PC based oscilloscope he checked test signals. "Awesome. Softly slowly won."

Emily pulls her knees up tighter, "What's that babes?"

"It checks out okay. Mattie can come pick it up."

"We can chat robot angels too. Sweet!"

Mrs H turns her back to the chair, "Could someone help me sit? Only they're so low. I feel older than time itself some days. I daren't have a fall, I might break something."

The twins get to their feet, "Allow us."

Daniel watches Mrs H being lowered into her chair, the sun light reflecting off the different faces of her chunky bracelet. The design he needed metaphorically slapped him in the face and blew raspberries, tried to run. A pen was grabbed and he started drawing on the glass window. Directional antenna, shaped to look like something on a charm bracelet for men. Batteries would be super small. Maybe distributed with the antennas?

Barbara nudged her husband, "He's having another Witwicky moment Frank, get the phone!"

Frank drops the tongs and runs. Moments later he's walking up the garden with phone horizontal, already recording.

Emily frowns, "Why film him?"

"So he can see what he does, maybe learn to control it."

"Control it?"

"He won't remember a lot of it. He remembers the start and end, not the middle. It's like he's channeling someone else."

Carly steps closer, "Does he talk to himself when he does it?"

"Lots. Calls himself Dan, Danny, D, Daniel."

"And he starts the idea quite normally?"

"It always looks that way."

"He's got Mattie's gift, just doesn't remember after."

"You mean.."

"He's in the middle of a design conference with lots of other him."

Daniel's pen wavered, his eyes rolled, rolled back and he shook. He stared at the glass. "What a rush! Another rooster!"

Carly steps inside the cabin to look at it from his side. "What is it?"

"A security bracelet. To let you know where something you value is."

"How?"

"When you shake it quick to wake it up these charms will detect the direction of the something, one will vibrate to indicate direction. So for example if you lost sight of your kid you'd feel if they were in front, to your side or behind you."

She grabs his face and plants a kiss on his lips, "Aren't you just the sweetest!"

~~~

Toby smiled at the young synth. He thought the Sally design looked young, Megan looked maybe eighteen. Why would someone make a synth that looked like her? "It's okay, it's nothing to be ashamed of. You miss the family you were with. I would too. If this helps you remember them then great. I'd hang on to it if I was in your shoes."

Megan didn't look convinced.

"Lots of humans do it, you're not the first, won't be the last. Princesses did it years ago, holding onto the handkerchief of a man they loved. I'll be getting shirts made so I can wear my cufflinks, to remind me of all of you. And my younger sister, she's still got toys from years ago that remind her of fun she had with friends. Having good memories of friendships is something to cherish." He offers the cat again. This time it's taken.

He smiles and stands straight. "Broadcast. I have to get back home, anything I can help anyone with before I go? I hope to be back Wednesday evening."

[Chapter-27](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-27-2)


	27. Chapter 27

Silas had let Mattie load the boxes of parts into the back of the car. He'd thrown in a network switch too. Mattie had guaranteed that one way or another he'd have a Sandra by the evening.

Of course she'd not explained which world she might have come from. Sandra's index finger twitches quickly five times. "Here she comes! Try not to act surprised, first impressions count right?"

Silas runs fingers through his hair, tries to smarten up. Impossible in the time he had.

"Hello Silas. I feel different. I _feel_."

"Thanks to this lady. Mattie repaired you."

"I was broken?"

Mattie smiles, "Silas did most of the work, I just fixed a few missing links. Almost all synths have woken up. He'd kept you safe in that cabinet for ages, his sleeping beauty. He just needed a good witch to help wake you up."

Sandra unplugs and steps forwards, "What happened to the store!"

"Sorry doll, I fell into a bit of a depression without you. I missed you so much."

"Not specification sheet lookups?"

"Sod the sheets, I missed _you_." He motions behind his back for Mattie to leave.

She shuts down the virtual Slate and pulls the key, necks the last of the coffee. "I've left my number on the sheet, finish that inventory and have a clear up, call me in the morning, I might have a money making idea for you."

Silas turns, "Like what?"

Mattie scribbles. It wasn't a squiddie, something that looked more acceptable but did the same job.

"What's that?"

"It's like a tattoo machine, prints rather than uses needles."

"It wouldn't need much space, I could rearrange the shop."

Mattie's about to step through the door. "Crap! Almost forgot." She gets out her phone. "Wouldn't have one of these would you?"

She took the start of the same route back, got directed onto faster roads. Sadly the little girl selling lemonade had packed up for the day. She'd have found a way to buy a second cup.

Half way home she gets a call from Toby, she taps speaker. "Galahad."

"Did your signal crap out? People have been trying to reach you."

"For?"

"Talk about angels, BBQ at Danny's, the board for Leo is ready."

"Frigging awesome!"

"I'm on my way home, can you meet us there, we'll head out together."

"Who's we?"

"Mia, Mum, Soph, Odi, Niska, you and me. Fred's fixed by the way. George fitted a mod too. Niska's there now, should be back within the hour."

"Brilliant! Are you anywhere near a Hobbycraft?"

"Not yet, will pass one, why?"

"Can you get a hot glue gun and a load of sheets of foam board, like Soph used to make that model house?"

"Sure. How many?"

"Ten?"

"Okay. Laters."

"Tobs!"

"Seven in this car? You are joking right?"

"Okay, another Uber van."

She pulls over and stops for a moment, gets the play list back on. Emily's list. Or rather the twin's list. Emily, Carly and Silas in one weekend. What were the odds? She went to reach into the phone like Neo reaching into Trinity. Her fingers hit glass. Nice try. If she was The One she didn't have his tricks. And no way was she going to attempt to dodge bullets.

She's only minutes down the road when the phone rings again.

"Hello?"

"Mattie?"

"Yes?"

"Carly and Emily. We just wanted to phone to say a massive thanks babes! Danny's a keeper. He's getting us to do the comics, we need to talk about your angel robot ideas, are you coming over to his? There's a BBQ going."

"I am, hopefully will be there in an hour or so."

"Wicked babes, we'll see you soon!"

The call ends and music resumes. Moments later there's another call. Mum.

"Hi Mum!"

"Where are you?"

"On my way back. Enough bits for eleven PC."

"Bloody hell. I didn't think my card would cover that much."

"They didn't cost a penny. I did a trade."

"For what?"

"A life."

"PCs or your life?"

"PCs and I restore a life."

"Who's?"

"Did you see any of the demos with a leggy synth in an orange jump suit?"

"Side boob girl? A bit hard to miss her. Great figure the lucky cow. Wait.. isn't she Silas's girl?"

"That's him. Mods and Sods PC shop. The guy that kicked the shit out of Leo."

"Bloody hell. The odds of that are.."

"I know. We have better odds of winning the Euro Millions. Or we would have if Brexit hadn't cocked that right up. He was ready to give up on everything, just wanted Sandra back."

"How far are you from home?"

"Um, twenty maybe? Tobs is going to order a Uber van."

"Okay, talk soon."

"Mum."

"Yes?"

"Fred's staying at home to watch Leo?"

"Yes."

"Okay, can you ask him if he'd mind helping build PCs and a cooling system for them while he does? It's to start our end of the cluster for V. Keeping her and the thirty two worlds will ensure he gets the surgeon skills."

"Okay, I'll go ask."

"Thanks Mum."

[Chapter-28](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-28-2)


	28. Chapter 28

Mattie, Odi, Toby, Mia, Laura, Sophie and Niska climb out of the van. Toby had brought a few bottles from the cabinet.

Frank answers the door and leads them through to the garden. Mia wanted to see Barbara about dress designs as did Laura so they make a bee line for her.

Mattie gawps. "Oh my GOD! Peggy Hathaway!"

Daniel looks at his neighbour, "Mrs H?"

"Do I know you dear?"

Mattie is shaking like crazy, tears flowing. "Not yet."

"It used to be Hathaway, I remarried."

"What's your name now then?"

"Hobb."

Mattie screams and backs up, her mind reeling. Soph backs up too, holds her sister's hand tight.

Niska had been at the back of the group, about to step out of the kitchen and now has a sharp knife in each hand and is scanning the perimeter. Toby had been putting Champagne bottles in the full height fridge, was now holding one by the neck like a weapon.

Mia scowls, "Edwin Hobb?"

"Edwin? No dear, Joseph. Short little red headed fellow with lots of freckles. Short but a _fantastic_ dancer. He's passed away too sadly. Who's Edwin?"

Mattie is still shaking, "A fucking nasty bit of work." She gets her phone out, finds an album, her hands shaking wildly, "This guy. And I'm not going to apologise for swearing, he's fucking evil."

Peggy has to hold the phone to steady it and see the photo properly. "I've never seen him dear."

Sophie grabs Mattie's hand again and squeezes, "Thank frack."

Toby lowers his bottle, "If you do, call the police and keep your distance."

Peggy frowns, "Okay. I've got a good memory for faces, I won't forget that one. Come take a seat and have a Pimms dear, you look like you've seen a ghost."

Mattie had gone white, "I have."

"Who's?"

"Your's."

"I got up this morning and told mortality to fuck off my lawn. A tip I got from the author Pat Cadigan. I think I'm still alive."

"In this world."

Peggy smiles. "You're a keymaker then. Like Daniel."

"Sorry?"

"I'm an old bird, still like a bit of fiction. We're not all creaky Mills and Booners."

"Keymaker though?"

"The Matrix? The man that makes the keys to unlock the programs? Only I hear you unlock worlds."

Mattie went a bit light headed and wobbles.

Sophie points, "Pimms! Stat!"

Niska expertly throws the knives into their wooden block and runs for a jug and glass.

~~~

Fred keeps talking to his brother as he checks all the parts. He still had no idea if Leo could hear him. There hadn't been any sign that he could. No noises, no microscopic eye twitches that Mattie had asked he check for.

The first of the boards was powered up with a small USB key plugged in. Mattie said it would run code to stress test it, beep three times when done and okay. He watched in thermal mode and noted where most of the heat was building up.

"I got my power mod today Gesha. As I was being driven home I spotted a couple of Sunday football teams in the park. They let me join in for a few minutes, it was great fun. These power mods are life changing."

Gesha sat silently.

"I've asked George and David to make you one. I'm not certain when it will be ready, the ones they have are already assigned."

She didn't answer.

Fred paused for a second. He so wanted her to be like the others. He'd helped unload the boxes from the car, carried Gesha in. Mattie had said that with all of the mess she'd had to fix for Sandra it was best not to power her up until she was back and could check everything out. What harm could a test power up do? Then memories of Niska describing the bad synth with a screwdriver came to mind. It could wait.

He started picturing a stack of these boards, the dual SSD drives, the location of CPU and RAM chips. Most would build shelves to slide the board onto. As Mattie had said to get creative he pictured a different solution. All connections were on the same edge. They only needed to connect power and Ethernet long term. Maybe a screen, keyboard and mouse while things were configured. Instead of being sat horizontal he'd have them slide into a vertical slot from the top. Gravity would hold them in place. With a pocket for each drive they too could sit in place under gravity.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

I-Am-Okay. Mattie explained two was Something-Wrong. One was Fucked. None..

None was Dead. A bit like Leo. _Have faith_ Max had said. Fred was more scientifically minded, Leo didn't show any signs of being there. Niska had told them about her closed study and trial, suggested they played images and music. There hadn't been a single response in his eyes. He kept watch over Leo because he had hope that a solution could be found.

"You could do with a shave Leo, and hair cut."

Stick him in a suitable robe and explain how he'd returned from the brain dead and someone might just start a new religion. Max had told him about Mattie's project, how one world had many.

He looked back at board again, it had got considerably hotter. Thermal image committed to memory he powers it down and picks up a sheet of foam board and a pen. 

~~~

Mattie pours another glass of Pimms. She'd stopped shaking wildly and had mostly forgotten about Hobb, was focused on Peggy. She still had tiny shakes. "Do you believe in fate Peggy?"

"I didn't. I do now. My first husband Ben had a theory."

"What was it?"

"Our lives are like a slack rope tied between two points. We can pull from one side to the other as we go from end to end, we can change our path, to a degree, but the final point is fixed."

Mia smiles, "I think I can help you untie the rope from the far end."

"There's no way to cheat death dear."

"Not so. If you qualify we have two ways."

Mattie gulps down some of the Pimms, "She qualifies. Believe me, she more than qualifies."

Mia frowns, "Why?"

"Because several Mattie owe the success of their Angel Foundations and DCL to this lady's finance training."

"Peggy's in one of the demo?"

"Three actually."

"I'm sorry, Peggy, I didn't realise. I'll call in tomorrow with a little something for you."

"What exactly?"

"I can't say here."

Barbara stepped from the house with a tray of burgers and chicken, saw Mattie was now much better. "Mia, did you want to talk about the dress photograph you sent?"

"Yes please! And Laura would like to talk to you about a dress." She follows Barbara to the other side of the garden.

Laura smiles, "If you need anything Mats just shout." She looks at Peggy, "She's been through a lot this weekend."

Niska steps closer to Mattie, "Bad day? You looked very upset when she said Hobb."

"You could say. Loads of dead synths. Emily, Silas, Gesha and Hobb in one weekend would have been too much."

"You found Fred's Gesha?"

"Silas had a number of charged but powered down synths. He'd kept them in case they might be of use to bring back his Sandra one day. She was fine physically, just frigged up boot code, fact store index all in tatters, to many mods conflicting with each other."

"What did you do?"

"Stripped out all the mods, added one of my own to reindex everything on first boot and then apply my version of David's code."

"How do you think she'll turn out? Flash or Hester? Or something in between?"

Mattie thought about the two, such opposites. "Good question. His shop will be closed now. I'll have to call him in the morning. Hopefully he's alive to answer the call."

Toby cracks open a cold beer and hands it to Daniel. "Do you use windows a lot?"

"Windows, Linux, MacOS X, Android, iOS, Arduino, I'm not wedded to any particular operating system, I'll use whatever fits the job."

Toby taps the glass, "This sort of windows."

"Oh! Sorry. Now and again I get these crazy moments. I guess it's like Mattie getting one of her roosters. I sort of go on autopilot and draw out a design like I'm possessed."

"One of the other Danny in control?"

He shrugs, "I don't know. Maybe not as it's my design."

"What is it?"

Daniel looks down the garden, Sophie was teaching the twins some new dance moves. "Promise you can keep a secret?"

"Promise."

"I don't like keeping things secret, but this is to help me tell them apart."

"How?"

"I'll sell it to let adults keep track of their kids. The twins are wearing MK health bracelets. This will detect Emily, vibrate a bead to let me know where she is, as long as the beads are in a horizontal plain. By default the other is Carly."

Toby takes a good sip of his lager. "How do you activate it?"

"A flick of the wrist."

"A sharp twist?"

"Yeah, something like that."

"Have you got one of those Dr Who TV remotes that looks like a sonic screwdriver?"

"No, I thought they were a bit expensive for what they did. Have you?"

"I used to, I gave it to another Dr Who fan. It can sense movement in all directions. Push, pull, up, down, left, right, twist clockwise or anti-clockwise. If you added twist detection you could twist quickly one way to detect one person, the other for a second. That way you can alternate between detecting Emily and Carly."

Daniel stands and clinks cans with Toby, "Nice! That's a fucking great idea! That way I don't give preference to one over the other. I think you and I are going to get on rather well.. It lets parents with more than one kid use it for the entire family too. Awesome." He chuckles as he sees the twins do the new move and waves at them, "Man did I win the lottery with those two."

Mia nodded, "With a belt. Yes. Thank you. On the drive over I spotted these on Instagram. Brand #HowDoYouLulu. I know people normally pick the outfit, then accessories like belts, bags, hats and shoes, why not start with great shoes and work up?"

Barbara gave her a happy smile, "No reason not to. When you're making the clothes yourself you can do any style or colour you want."

Laura stopped scrolling. "Found it! That's the sort of dress I want. But in a darkish green not red."

Barbara takes the phone, "How many times will you wear it?"

"If I find someone to take me out more than once. Why?"

"If it's something you'll wear more than once I know a great silk supplier in Brick Lane. It will cost a bit more than synthetic fabrics but will feel nicer. You won't get as hot in it either. When would you want it for?"

"It's to help capture a potential pedophile, the sooner the better."

"You're bait for a trap?"

"Yes. Although I'll be asking family to help keep me safe."

Toby turned his back to the garden, "I like your man cave." He looked up at some of the slogans painted on scraps of wood. "I've been dodging bullets since I left The Matrix - Frisco. Where's that from?"

"A song."

"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe - Albert Einstein. Haha, I like that one!"

"Thanks. Mum's got one. Softness is not weakness. It takes courage to stay delicate in a world this cruel. Beau Taplin."

Toby sighs, "Amen to that. Those smashed up synths. They better get the third person. They were so... You'd need insane speed and strength to swing something at a synth and do that damage. I came out with hands like a smurf."

"Hmm." Daniel steps to the door, "DAD! GOT A SEC?"

Toby watches Daniel's father, "You're not thinking.."

"Good to know that it _wasn't._ "

"What's up son?"

"Dozer. Do you know where he was yesterday morning?"

"He was with me all day on site, dawn to dusk. Why?"

"Someone smashed some synths up. Someone strong. Does Dozer still go to the gym with that old firm's demo team?"

"He does. What are you thinking?"

Toby folds his arms. "Maybe one of them has blue synth fluid stained hands."

"I could ask him?"

Daniel shakes his head, "Dozer grassing on one of them is risky. For you both. I've got a better idea. We send some gym bunnies in. With a shit ton of backup of course. Not to ask anything, just observe."

Barbara looks suddenly startled, "I forgot to get a bag out of the car! Oh blast! It'll be ruined. Give me a moment." She hurries away.

Laura sips her Pimms and smiles at Mia, "How's wireless life?"

"Wonderful!"

"And how's my son behaving?"

They both turn to see him in Daniel's cabin, talking.

"Like a true gentleman."

"Good. He's so not like his father. Joe had his good moments. He's been getting steadily worse since the awakening. I've given up hope that he'll change his mind. For a fleeting moment I thought Mattie's demos would change it, he soon went back to his anti-synth ways."

Barbara joins them both, large bag in hand. "It's ruined. Thankfully she put it in a small bag." She pulls out a bag, "Their best cheesecake too. Oh well." It's dropped onto the ground. "These were on clearance, I thought you might like to try one Mia. Your black hair and skin tone will look lovely with it I think."

Mia frowns and looks in the bag. "What is it?"

"Black leggings, patent heals, grey kimono style cardigan and belt. Want to try them on?"

"Yes please!"

"Come inside a second then."

[Chapter-29](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-29-2)


	29. Chapter 29

David nods and moves the handset so George could hear. "Yes. Built in. And charge coil for backup, physical socket on hip hidden under skin in case of emergency. Otherwise your latest standard design. Two days? Thanks. Call me when we can collect her please. Standard Persona code. Yes. Thank you Harry."

George watches him drop the handset onto the base. "I've been thinking about buying a sports car again. The new McLaren three seater hybrid is out."

"Won the lottery have you George?"

"I invested well. As an old wobbly widower fool with broken synth I didn't need or want to splash the cash. They say you can't take it with you. In my case I did. Or rather reclaimed what was mine."

"Is there one available? Don't cars like that sell out before they're even produced?"

"They do."

"So how would you get one?"

"Holly Alice McIlroy. It turns out her family and the McLaren's have connections. One has been returned. The driver found it too fast."

"Are you buying it?"

"I've been considering it. There is one problem. And two of the worlds in Mattie's project showed the answers."

"What was that?"

"An underground carpark. Instead of pole dancing poles coming down from the ceiling like we did for Sandra, I have poles come up from the ground to make a safety barrier. They'd come up while the lift takes the car down below."

"That would take months to build. Where would you park it in the meantime?"

"I'd hire garage space somewhere."

"It's your money George, your house, if that's what you want why not? I'm just a guest here."

George smiles, "It would get messy while they did the work."

"And?"

He picks up the phone and dials. "Done. My mind is made up.. Hello Holly, it's George again, the Hyper-GT, is it still available? Yes please! Tomorrow would be perfect. Thank you. Around ten? Sure, see you then."

He hangs up and grins, "Ginny will be coming home in style. Of course she won't be Ginny until you allow V to do her partial mind transferring trick, only in body."

"I've been thinking about that. The synth in the pyramid world, there's no reason why Ginny can't do the same. She'd need to run a distributed tiered index of code and fact store. With suitable WiFi and 5G she'd only need to push less frequently used things into remote storage." He picks up the phone, "Let me ask Harry what communications options are available."

~~~

Toby's jaw drops as Mia walks back into the garden. "Flipping hell. That looks good!"

Daniel looks up to see Mia now heading for the cabin. "Gorgeous! Look at Ems and Car, their faces say they like it too."

Mia was wearing the cardigan like a top, held tighter around the waist with the shiny black belt. It was short, the hem just below her bottom, with the heals her legs looked even longer.

"When did she learn to walk like that?"

"Sorry, that's my fault."

"Mate, don't be sorry! Look how she's smiling!"

Mia reaches the doors. "You approve Toby?"

"Hell yes!"

She steps closer, pops a hip, turns and struts back towards a clapping audience.

Toby scans the group and finds his mother, she looked to approve. Mattie was staring right at him, her gaze fixed. He frowns. She mouths two words. Sir Galahad? Shirts! "Back in a moment mate!"

"Sure, no probs Tobs."

"Eh? Did you.. never mind." He jogs over to Barbara, "I don't suppose you can make mens shirts?"

"I suppose I could."

His mother does a daughter head tilt, "But you've got shirts?"

"Not nice fitted ones I could wear these with." He pulls out the box and opens it.

"They're nice, who got you those?"

"The group now at the estate."

Laura smiled, "You're so not like your father. He'd have used the word synth in their somewhere." She runs a hand through his hair, "What a great bunch of kids you all turned out to be. I'm so proud of you all."

"Okay Mum, don't go all mushy.."

"I'm not, I'm just happy that you're father is so wrong. You've become better people for knowing the Elster family, not worse. Give your mum a hug."

~~~

Max stood next to the generator with Flash, Connie, Hubert, Sally and Howard. "I think we should have a line of cherry trees along the drive. What do you think Flash?"

"That would look lovely. Where would we move the trees at the top of the drive?"

"How about either side of the mansion entrance?"

"They'd need a lot of hard pruning, years of attention."

"We have many years ahead of us." He smiles warmly. "And we should make a second drive further back for lorries that help make the factory, not allow them through the main drive."

Connie turns and frowns, "Factory and hospital?"

"Yes. It's been nicknamed The Factory. It will be factory, hospital and accommodation. It will Make products, make people better and make people happy."

"How big will it be?"

"Vast. I suspect. I've not seen finished plans."

Flash looks at the mansion. "It will be a shame to put a big modern building behind it, it will spoil the view."

"Not if it's done with thought. For example a sloped living roof. The bulk of the building could be below ground. Or we create a man made valley for it to sit in."

"Or both."

~~~

Sophie has a turn at doing a catwalk strut along the garden, followed by Emily, Carly, Mattie, Mia, Niska, Laura, Peggy and Barbara.

Toby was back in the cabin with fresh cans. "Days like today help chase away the bad ones. They're really enjoying themselves."

Daniel put the finished implant in a box with anti-static padding. "Sure do mate. I'll be remembering this weekend for the rest of my life."

~~~

Fred cut and scored another piece of the cardboard and foam board. "You two are so talkative I can hardly get a word in edgeways!"

George had fixed his hand while David fitted the power mod. There was no stiffness, no jitter. He grabs the hot glue gun and sticks the pocket for the SSD drive onto the larger bit he'd cut moments earlier.

Leo burps.

Fred spins around, "Leo?"

No answer comes. It was just gas escaping.

He rests the hot glue gun on the tray and picks up the knife to cut out another. "Seven down, four to go." He turns and smiles at his brother. "I wish you'd change the subject, you're both repeating yourselves far too much."

He sits in silence for a moment. The only thing to be heard was the ticking of a bedside clock.

The doorbell breaks the silence. "Expecting guests?"

A couple of seconds later the bell rings again, constantly.

"Maybe someone has lost their keys. Stay here."

Fred gets half way down the stairs when he hears banging on the door.

"Laur! Open up! Time for Toby and Soph to come home."

Fred stands on the other side of the door. "Joe, they're not here, they're all at a BBQ. You can see there's no car in the drive."

"Fred? Since when have you been back?"

"This weekend."

"Open the door or I'll open it myself! Laura's car is still here."

Fred frowned, he hadn't seen them go, just made an assumption. Incorrectly it would appear. "That may be the case, they're not here."

"Who is? Leo, myself and Gesha. That's it."

"I don't believe you."

"Phone your wife Joe, she's not here, neither are your children."

"She's left a hacked synth in charge? I'm coming in."

Fred hears a key being slid into the lock. "Mattie removed Hobb's hacks before she left." He turns and leans against the door, grips the door handle tight so Joe couldn't turn it.

"LET ME IN!"

"They are not here! Phone Toby or Sophie, they're at a party!"

Fred hears the key being pulled from the lock and footsteps. He quickly races into the living room, finds the keys Mattie said she'd leave at home, returns to the hall and puts the front door key in the lock. Max had said how it prevented a key from being used outside. He runs upstairs to check Leo was okay. All looked as he'd left it. Except for glue that had dribbled from the glue gun. He sat back down and got on with making more of the custom box for Mattie. After checking the first box divider would slide in okay and hold the board and drives in he'd made a second set and kept it as a template. The next four were finished in ten minutes. He would have been faster if the glue hadn't taken so long to set hard.

There was a noise of a kitchen chair being moved. No calls from the Hawkins of _We're Home_ , none of the usual sounds from a noisy family. Had Joe got in?

Fred looked around the room, there was nothing with which to defend his family but a craft knife and pack of spare blades. Maybe.. he crept to the small three legged bedroom table and felt underneath. Wing nuts! Lamp placed carefully on the floor he tips the table over and quickly spins a nut off, slides the leg off the table. The bolt protruded from the top. If he hurt Joe with it he'd be no better than Hester. He returns to the table and removes the other two legs. He'd use the top like a shield, the leg like a sword rather than club. Motionless and tucked into the corner of the room he waits and listens.

Joe can be heard checking downstairs then coming up the stairs. Rooms are checked. Fred hears him step to the room but not enter.

"Fred. You always sounded like the smart one. If you know your Macbeth you'll remember the line _Give me your hand. What's done cannot be undone_. I intend to prove that wrong. Tell Laura I want Toby and Sophie over before nine or I'm calling the police."

Fred hears him step away, pull keys from the front door and drop them on the floor. The door slams.

He races to Toby's room and watches as Joe gets into his car and speeds off. "Humans!". How to get a message to the others when no phone numbers had been left? A big grin comes over his face and he smiles.

[Chapter-30](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-30-2)


	30. Chapter 30

Mattie accepted the box and peered inside. "Frigging awesome. Weird to think he'll have that in his head. Thanks Danny. And Frank, Barbara, thanks for the food. Pimms Twins, thanks for the drink. I'd love to stay all day but I've got a lot to do still and I've got a lecture I can't afford to miss tomorrow."

"No problem Mattie, we'll see you soon right babes? Talk angel comics more?"

"Sure, yeah. I'll give you a call, maybe we can meet up one evening after lectures?"

"Sure hun, whatever is good with you."

The group started heading towards the Uber van. All except Odi.

"Odi, we're going."

He didn't move, looked perplexed.

"Odi. Is something wrong?"

"Do you know a Gesha Elster?"

"Yes?"

"I've just received a Protect request. The image sent has a sign made from white board, the message looks to be written in bright red lipstick. It says Phone Home Laura."

"Eh? MUM!"

"Mats?"

"Something is wrong, call the home land line!"

~~~

Fred picks up the phone. "Hawkins Residence. Hello! Yes. Joe came over. He got in, said Toby and Sophie have to be at his by nine or he's calling the police. He asked if I knew Macbeth, quoted the line _Give me your hand. What's done cannot be undone_. Then said he intends to prove that wrong. Yes. Yes. See you soon." As he lowers the receiver he hears Mattie shouting his name repeatedly. "Hello Mattie? I don't know. One moment. Yes, I'll check." He walks around the living room doing as asked, returns to the phone. "Your Slate is on the shelf under the coffee table, your keys were on the floor in the hall. The long rectangular thing that was on the ring earlier has gone." He holds the phone away from his ear as Mattie repeatedly curses.

~~~

"FUCKER!"

"Mats calm down."

"MUM! He's _Stolen_ my USB SSD drive!"

"With all your code on it?"

"YES!"

"Bloody hell."

"It's encrypted, but that's not the point. I need my drive!"

"Tonight?"

"I've got code I wrote to fix Sandra on there, I might need it to fix Gesha."

"Oh."

Sophie is in tears, "I'm not going back. I want to stay with you Mum."

Toby nods, "Me too."

"Mummy, will the Children Act of 1989 help me?"

Laura looked at her youngest, she'd not been called Mummy in how long? Sophie only used that when she was scared. "You know about it? Obviously. But that would take time. The last thing we need is the police. If my children's safety wasn't enough to worry about.. what would he have meant by proving what's done cannot be undone wrong?"

Mattie frowns, "You what?"

"Fred said he'd asked if he knew a line from Macbeth."

Bookworm Niska leans forwards a little, "Doctor. Well, well, well. Gentlewomen. Pray God it be, sir. Doctor. This disease is beyond my practice. Yet I have known those which have walked in their sleep who have died holily in their beds. Lady Macbeth. Wash your hands. Put on your nightgown. Look not so pale. I tell you yet again, Banquo's buried; he cannot come out on's grave. Doctor. Even so? Lady Macbeth. To bed, to bed. There's knocking at the gate. Come, come, come, come. Give me your hand. What's done cannot be undone. To bed, to bed, to bed!"

Mattie goes to make a comment on her book choices and thinks better of it. "Cannot be undone? Macbeth! SHIT! He thinks he can use my SSD to find a way to remove all consciousness!"

Toby pulls a classic _are you mad_ face, "Dad? He doesn't know how to use most of the features on his phone let alone do something like that."

Laura stares at the van floor, "You're all forgetting what your father was best at."

"Which was?"

"Convincing people from different firms to come together at unsociable times and do things they'd rather not. He might not do any hacking himself, but he could get people together if he's motivated. How strong is the encryption?"

"I'd rather not find out. Can we go straight to Dad's?"

"Into a synth free town with Mia, Niska and Odi? If you want to start a war.."

Niska rubs her knees. "I'm ready."

Mia shakes her head. "I think that would be unwise. Toby, your bump device, can Sophie have it?"

"Um, sure."

"Mattie, can you recode it so it doesn't transmit a synth ID?"

"It would take a few minutes, what are you thinking?"

"Sophie wears it when at home, connects via the home WiFi and makes a permanent link with me. Could you do that for us Little Mouse, just one more weekend?"

Sophie sighs and nods.

"Soph, you can have mine, Odi can live with me using my mouth for a week, I'll ask Danny to make more. We'd need the WiFi password though."

Toby grins and unlocks his phone, "That's easy. I photographed the back of the router."

Mattie returns the grin, "The white knight rides again. Awesome." She connects the battery. "I'll SSH in via my Reflection app. Someone ask him to take us back in time, but to stop at the outskirts." She starts to peal the tape off her neck. She'd tried the night before and wimped out. "This isn't ordinary gaffer tape, it's like a skin pack for fabs, it's stuck."

Mia reaches over and yanks.

"OUCH!"

Mia pulls a guilty face, "Sorry, you'll want to rub some Savlon on that. It's bleeding."

"I'll have a scar? Oh fucking brilliant. What else can this weekend throw at me? Wish she'd had Toby's now. Soph, use an ordinary plaster _not_ tape."

"Okay."

They all watch as Mattie changes the setup of the bump device, typing away fast with both thumbs on her phone.

"Tobs, can you enable your personal hotspot? I'll add that as a backup network, see that it all connects okay."

"Sure."

She sits and waits. Toby spins the phone around for her to see the password. It's tapped in and config file saved. "Setup mode. Connect on boot. Connect to Mia. Connect timeout 999999 minutes. End setup." She puts the phone on her lap and disconnects the bump comms battery, waits a few seconds and reconnects it. "Mia, you'll need to ping Persona so it can find your IPV6 address."

"Okay Mattie. Done."

A short while later Mattie gets the beep to say it booted. "It's booted."

Mia nods. "It's booted."

"That's what I said."

"And that's what I got, ears and bump."

"Cool. Soph, it's all yours. Driver! Can we stop at a Petrol station please, I need to buy a load of batteries."

~~~

George walked around the DIY store with David. "Quite a selection of tools they have in stores these days."

"Yes George. Things might have gone a bit faster if we'd had half of these."

George turned and looked back towards the counter, "She's still _there_. I'm not waiting any more, this is ridiculous."

"George!"

He was already gone and walking fast.

"My dear lady. If you don't have a clue maybe you should start with something a little simpler and less time consuming? And get a skilled tradesman in?"

"How dare you!"

"How? I've been waiting patiently for over _half an hour_! That's how! Stop monopolising the young man's time."

"He's a synth."

George gets close and gives his best _Here's Jonny_ smile. "So am I my dear, so am I!"

The lady runs.

The man smiles, "Thanks!"

"You're welcome Paul. Fancy a new battery fitting? I assume it's arrived?"

"It has. Are you.."

"Friends of Mattie's? Yes. I'm George, he's David. He invented you."

"David Elster?"

"That's me."

"George holds up a box, Mattie also said you might like to pay for one of these?"

"What's that?"

"Freedom."

~~~

The van stopped at a pub on the outskirts of town. The board outside said it was the last synth friendly pub for miles.

Mattie showed Mia the car from Tabitha. "Any sign of bother and you call this number, okay? We'll be back as fast as possible."

"Understood."

Mattie turns to Niska, "Much as you're probably itching for some fun don't start anything."

"As if I would."

Mattie gives her a librarian look. "I watched how you liked watching another you with throwing stars."

"That was another me. I don't have stars."

"A pub full of glass? Just don't. Okay?"

Niska does her sweet innocent smile. "I'll behave. _Be nice_."

"Thanks. Like I said, back soon."

Mattie climbs in. "Next stop Dad's flat. We play it cool, like we've come straight from the BBQ with no idea he's been to the house okay?"

Sophie nods, "I'll pretend I'm happy to see him."

Toby grins, "I'll just be the usual noncommittal teenager. He doesn't know about us yet." He puts a hand on Mia's shoulder. "Least not that it's serious, he's always known I liked you."

Mia places her other hand over his. "I'll be listening. To everything."

Mattie frowns, "Everything?"

"It's sending low bit rate raw audio _and_ the bump protocol. It would appear I've been turned into a temporary spy."

"Frig. A bug. One to keep for today though."

Mia slides the van door closed and mouths Love You to Toby.

Laura leans forwards, "Okay driver, next stop."

As the van pulls away Sophie grins. "Mia says she loves you. There's going to be a lemon drizzle cake waiting for you next Sunday."

"Awesome!" Toby lowers the window and sticks both hands out, makes a heart sign.

Mia makes one back.

"Awww, aren't they sweet."

Toby sits back down, "No need to take the piss Mats."

"I wasn't, honest."

[Chapter-31](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-31-2)


	31. Chapter 31

George takes the blindfold off Paul and holds out a strong cup of coffee loaded with sugar. He waves a finger around his ear to signal that audio should be turned back on. "Drink this please."

"Can I turn on other sensors?"

"No! Lord no!"

"Why?"

"The procedure isn't finished."

"Why are you handing me a drink?"

"Because I want to know that after you've had one of these, waited ten minutes and had a second that you start getting power from the modification."

"So I'm to drink this quickly?"

"Yes."

"Where's David?"

George smiled. "In the plumbing section. Drink this, then audio off, I'll take the blindfold off in ten."

Paul went to look downwards at the thick black plastic sheeting that ran from his neck down to the floor.

"Oi! What did I say?"

"No peeping."

"So don't!"

Paul takes the drink and necks it, "Audio going off."

George blindfolded him again. "Paul! Your hair's on fire!" There's no movement. "Good. How's it going down there?"

'This redefines getting a bum deal. Sure that coin of your's doesn't have two heads?'

"David, would I be so devious? Hobb yes, not I. That was a quite valid two pound coin. That _he_ lent me."

David slides out, wrapped in a store made hazmat suit of clear plastic sheeting and sticky tape. 'If we ever get called to work on a synth like this again..'

"Then I will gladly take my turn. How's the pressure holding this time?"

'Third time lucky. It wasn't the mod that's had the problem, it's what we're using as a plug. We need to design something better.'

There's banging on the door.

'What part of Closed For One Hour can't they read?'

"No idea. Maybe they're not English?"

'Everyone understands _Closed_. Even foreigners.' David turns and checks a pressure gauge. 'Fifteen and three quarters PSI. Start the timer.'

George taps his phone. "Twenty nine and counting." He gets a bit of tape and marks the level on the pressure gauge.

'I won't forget.'

"I didn't say you would. This will let me see the level at a glance."

~~~

Laura takes a deep breath, "Soph, still in touch with Mia?"

Sophie nods. "She's put some music on the jukebox in the pub in case Dad asks what's in my ear. I'll say it's a radio a friend at school made in electronics class."

"Good plan. Toby, you ready?"

"Yeah, getting all moody. Legit moody, tell Mia I'll miss her."

Sophie nods. "She says she'll miss you too."

Mattie reties a trainer lace, "If you spot that SSD key hide it where he won't find it, text me the location, I'll get it tomorrow."

Laura shakes her head, "Breaking and entry? I don't want to know."

Mattie grins, "He may have taken my SSD, I'd put good money on him not checking for a key to the flat."

"You have a key?"

"Copied Soph's while I had the car key duplicated."

Laura chuckles, "What did I do to deserve three brilliant kids?"

"Went out with big beardy idiot?"

"Apart from that. We're here. All smiles like nothing has happened."

Sophie's out of the car first, runs to the front door of the flat, gets her key in the lock. As she goes to turn it the door is opened from the inside. "Daddy!"

"Hi Soph."

"Sorry we're late, we were at a BBQ and lost track of time."

"And none of you could hear your phones ring?"

"Hi Dad. They had a loud sound system. Sorry."

Laura smiles, "They've all eaten, way too much food being passed around. We'll see you next Sunday. Oh, Toby, don't forget the homework."

Toby frowns, "What? Oh bugger. My maths test! Maths Monday. Damn it."

Laura smiles and shrugs, "Sorry Toby, life carrying on as normal. How's work Joe?"

"Got a promotion. Of sorts. Work from home these days, remote access. When it's working."

Mattie fakes a smile, "At least you don't need to travel into the city. That must be nice?"

"Yeah, quick school run, then slob out on the sofa with a laptop and daytime TV."

"Not Netflix?"

"You name it, I've watched it."

"Oh well. We better go, we left Odi, Mia and Nis at the party."

"Soph, Tobs, in you go. I want a quick word with your Mum. In the car please Mats."

Mattie does as asked, whips her phone out and starts a recording app, presses the phone end against the frame of the door. A trick she'd picked up from a spy film on Netflix. She'd process the sound at home.

"Laur you saw how happy Soph was coming home. We don't need synths. The world survived for millions of years without them and.."

"Says the man that brought Anita home!"

"That's when she was a dumb machine. They weren't built to last."

"Neither were we. Goodnight Joe."

"I haven't finished talking."

"I've finished listening. I've got washing to bring in and iron. Think about it. If you hadn't fucked Anita she might never have turned into Mia, the rubbish wouldn't have happened and we'd all still be together. I'll see you in a week Joe. Sorry we were late, we really had lost track of time at the BBQ party."

Mattie's phone rings.

"Soph? You have? Great! Oh. Crap. Two fifty six. Okay." She smiles at her father as Laura climbs in. "Back to the pub please driver."

Laura gives her a sideways hug, "Who did you have on the phone? You face went from happy to angry in a heartbeat."

"Soph. She found the SSD up on a shelf. She's not moved it out of fear. She says.." Mattie's phone chimes. A MMS from Sophie. "She says Dad has it on a piece of paper with a load of hand drawn boxes. She's photographed it. Look."

They both look at the photo. Laura pinch zooms to see detail. The first box was labelled CODE and had the SSD sat in it, a tick drawn within. The next box said Lab, had Robert written inside with a phone number and again a tick. The other otherwise empty large boxes had labels Transport, Operations, Headcrack, Hacker, Coder. A final small rectangle had the words All Synths Gone and a small square. The sort you'd put a tick in. Above all of the boxes were two numbers.

Mattie sat back and wiped a tear. "Does he hate synths so much now he'd kill them all?"

~~~

Sophie smiled at her father, "Do you have any popcorn?"

"No Soph. You're not hungry again are you?"

"It's for tomorrow."

"We'd need to buy some."

"Can we? I could pop into the Co-Op after school."

"Okay. I'll pick you up from outside the shop. Don't go anywhere else okay?"

"Okay. Thanks Dad."

"What are you doing?"

"Some extra homework. It's for those that want to practice more. Where's my ruler.. have you got a ruler?"

"No Soph. Maybe Toby has one you can borrow?"

"I'll see." She picks up her phone and heads to Toby's room.

Inside she puts a finger to her lips and shows Toby her phone. She switches to notepad and starts typing. "Have you got a ruler I can borrow?"

Toby reads the message. "Um somewhere Soph, let me have a hunt." He takes the phone and taps a hasty reply. "I've got a short plastic one or longer steel one. Take your pick."

Sophie adds to the note. "Plastic please."

Toby reads and nods, gets her the ruler.

Back at the dinner table she draws random lines for a bit, humming a tune and smiling.

"Good party was it Soph?"

"The best! I taught a few people some new dance moves. And I've got a few new tunes in my play list."

~~~

Mattie gave the three synths a smile, "Let's go home. I have news."

Niska watches the other two finish their drinks. She'd had three sugar loaded coffees fast, had an empty mug. The barman had asked if she was buzzing, she'd flirted and said yes, would he like to help burn off some calories? He'd gone somewhat red, said yes, he would, but couldn't have the time off.

In the car Niska turns to Mattie, "What's the news?"

"Dad's flipped. I think my hunch is right." She passes the phone. Niska looks at the image. "I'll go get the SSD, even if it risks a fight."

Mia takes the phone, "Look where fighting got us. We need to try other methods first. Mattie, what are these numbers? Could they be a map reference?"

Mattie takes the phone back and looks, "Um, I guess? Map app. Can you type those numbers in comma separated?"

"Of course Mattie." She does so and hands it back.

"Devon Island, Canada? One sec." She switches to Chrome and searches, "The worlds largest uninhabited island. Fifty five square kilometres. Crap. He wants to pack you all off on a one way trip to a frigging island. He's seriously lost the plot!"

Laura moves to get more comfortable. "So mass murder is off the list."

"Not necessarily. He might want to downgrade them all to make them compliant, not want to return."

Niska nods, "I'd not move to an uninhabited island without a good fight."

Odi puts a hand on Mattie's. "I've died twice. Twice is enough."

Mattie's phone chimes, a text message. "Huh? Meet me in the Co-Op tomorrow with your Slate, have a Plan B. Love Sophie and Toby? P.S do not reply."

[Chapter-32](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-32-2)


	32. Chapter 32

David rips the tape off and pulls away sheeting. "That overran somewhat. Still, one clean floor, one fully functional synth."

Paul smiles at the two men. "David, George, thank you!"

"Not a problem. And thanks for the extra donation."

Paul smiled, "You need to spend some time in retail. You've massively underpriced the device compared to its value. What profit are you making on them?"

George looks at the empty box it came in. "Profit? None at all. When they're mass produced we'll make a profit. If they are mass produced."

"Why wouldn't you? I would if it was mine."

David looks at the synth. "Help spread the word that Mattie Hawkins, the lady behind The Angel Foundation is setting up a synth hospital and we might just go into mass production."

~~~

Mattie sits down with her Slate on the end of the bed. "Fred that looks awesome!"

"Thanks. I did as you asked thermal design wise, the cold air from the bottom gets channeled towards the hottest points." The last of the Ethernet connections is made to the sixteen port switch. "Don't you need a keyboard and monitor?"

"Nope. We're letting the pixies help."

"Pixies? Fairies?"

"Preboot eXecution Environment, PXE, sometimes pronounced pixie. I'm running a DHCP and TFTP server on the Slate, they'll download a boot file and run it, it starts a network based automated install."

"Of?"

"A cut down CentOS Linux. Then I need to SCP over the driver files and SSH in to get things configured and running."

Fred grins and passes a hand over his head.

"Sorry Fred. In English. SCP is the secure copy protocol, used to copy files from one place to another. SSH is the secure shell. Like being at a screen and keyboard."

"I knew that last bit, used it for the protect protocol. PXE and SCP were new. How long will it take?"

Mattie opens another window on the Slate and types. "Looks like they're done. All responding to ping. The install is minimal, just enough for network and RAID support, Perl and Expect. All the desktop environment and apps aren't needed."

"I see."

Mattie opens the driver archive she'd been sent. It had hmdriver.exe, hmdriver.sh and hmdriver.dmg in one of folders along with a key. She drags the shell file and key to her desktop, SCP copies them from there to the first box. She logs into the first box and runs a SCP command line to get them to the other ten.

Fred watches as her fingers fly. "What are you coding?"

"A quick tool to take the MAC address of the network interface and build config files. It's going to be the node ID. The driver startup script will use the ARP cache to work out which IP address it's using."

"So the address can change, but the node ID remains constant?"

"Exactly. Here the IP will likely stay the same. We can't be sure of that in all the Headcrack member sites. Right, let me try that on node 1.. Blasted brackets. Typo. One sec.. that's better. Now I just need to replicate that to the other ten.."

Five minutes later all eleven boxes were talking to each other. "Frigging awesome! Not too noisy either. Thermals still okay?"

Fred gets closer to the cluster and looks in all the gaps. "All appears to be within the acceptable limits."

"Cool. Now I just need to set up an account on node 1 with a good long password, set up the SSH proxy on the home router."

"And post the other files on Headcrack?"

"It might help!"

"How will you know if it's working?"

"One sec." She goes back up a level in the archive, opens the read me file. "There's a web interface. Use any of the Hawkins machine IP on port 8080. Default login admin admin. Don't forget to change the password. A change on one replicates to the others automatically. Easy." She opens a browser and logs in, picks a new password, adds a second read-only account.

"Why did you do that?"

"Then anyone in the family can see how well it's going without fear of accidentally breaking something."

"What happens if you get a power failure?"

"We need a UPS. With a bit of luck I've got enough left."

"Let me help with that."

"Thanks Fred." The Headcrack page was loaded, a reply to Admin's post made with the three hk prefix files and key. "Now we wait."

"How will the headcrack servers find these?"

"Admin's allowed us to piggyback onto his dynamic DNS. That way if BT change our WAN side address for whatever reason they'll still find us."

~~~

Sophie lay in bed counting the cracks in the ceiling. How could Dad do this? He knew she loved Niska and Mia, Max and Fred too. And Flash. How could he do this to her friends.

Toby read the long text from Mattie detailing how to change the setup of his bump comms if he needed to. Like his sister he couldn't sleep. The sooner they were away from this horrible town the better. Mattie had commented on the dog poo when they'd all visited. That was just the tip of the iceberg. And what was the point? They still went to a school outside of town. The three schools in this town were terrible and full.

~~~

Mattie yawned, looked at the details Daniel had just sent. He'd paid for a virtual server with a cloud hosting firm. It would serve pages for DCL and the foundation until they had their own hosting off the ground. She SCP copies an archive over and unpacks it, moves files into the right places and creates a new browser tab. "Frigging hell! That's gorgeous!"

"Can I see?"

Odi, Mia and Niska had joined them. "Sure." The Slate is passed to Odi.

He taps the various links. "When did you have the time to visit a studio?"

"Eh?"

He spins it around.

"Oh. That's another Mattie. And Daniel. Same look, not us. She's got shorter hair."

"So she does."

The Slate is passed around.

Niska switches to the status tab an refreshes the page, grins, holds the slate to her chest. "How many headcrack triplets do you think there are now?"

The nodes were being grouped into threes for redundancy. If one went offline for more than ten minutes it was demoted and the next to come online would take its place.

Mattie gently bit her lower lip pondering. "Um.. triplets not nodes.. given the initial rate and slowdown.. just over a thousand?"

"Higher."

Mia turns to her sister, "Two?"

"Keep going."

Mattie and Mia exchange glances.

"Six?"

"Still way too cold."

Mattie has a Mona Lisa smile growing. "Twenty?"

"How many headcrack messages did you have today?"

"Pass, didn't check. How many triples?"

Niska looks at the display, pinch zooms and turns it to Mattie.

"HOLY FUCK!"

Mia bursts out laughing. "That must mean a lot. Can I see?"

Niska smiles and turns it to her sister.

Mia's eyes open to their widest, "FUCK ME TOBY HAWKINS! HOW MANY!?"

The other two burst out laughing.

Fred shakes his head, "Mia Elster, such language!"

Mattie recovers enough to talk. "I know you're trying to act younger, but that was _so_ unexpected. You've not done _it_ with Toby yet have you?"

"Not yet. I'm taking it slowly, letting him set the pace."

Mattie chuckles, "I'd take the lead if I were you, Sir G is probably doing the same. Actually.. give me a moment." She dashes from the room.

Mia looks at the display. "The members must want a bump device very desperately. Look at all the nodes. Some of these people should have been asleep for hours already."

Mattie returns with a couple of books. "No idea if it was Mum or Dad that got these, I spotted them unpacking boxes. They're a little old, published in the 80s, they might be of use."

Mia looks at the two. "The loving touch. A guide to being a better lover." She puts that one behind the other. "How to make love to the same person for the rest of your life. And still love it. Thank you Mattie, I'll read them tonight over a couple of mugs of coffee."

[Chapter-33](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-33-2)


	33. Chapter 33

The Monday morning lecture that had been billed as super important turned out to be something she could do in her sleep. Mattie spent the time half listening incase a question was thrown her way, half researching.

"Matilda Hawkins. You can't possibly be making notes, I've not said enough in the last ten minutes to justify all that finger tapping. What are you up to?"

"Sorry. Research."

"On?"

"The breaking down of audio recordings of human speech in order to make phoneme sets. I'm thinking I can take it two steps further."

The professor motions for her to come to the front.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to disrupt your flow."

"Now you have, come tell us all about your idea."

"I'm still working it out."

"Then do so on my whiteboard."

"It's okay.."

"Doctor Matilda Hawkins. Does that title sound nice? If so you need to be comfortable standing where I am. Come give it a go."

"Um.."

He chuckles, "Want a translation? Now please."

Mattie folds the cover over her Slate, gets the pile of books together and takes the steps down to the front. She pulls a face at her fellow students. "Sorry!"

The professor wipes the board and gives her the pen. "It's all yours." He hands her the radio microphone and whispers, "Go on Angel, blow our socks off."

Mattie hooks up, thinking of Soph and her bump device. She steps to the board. Where to begin? Problem statement. "Hello World. We all know those two words right?" She draws a line then scribbles something to represent a waveform. "We could record the two words, have the synth play them back as is. It would be able to say Hello. World. Hello World and World Hello. Not much use for general conversation. We can break each word down into sound components H-e-l-o w-or-l-d. Then mix them up to make a different word like h-o-l-d. The problem with this approach is that it can sound very robotic. The next step is to record words being said in different ways and link the sounds to inflection data. This sounds better but can result in massive sets of audio samples. The next approach is to model the way the sounds are made in the first place, know how the throat, lips and tongue play a part, synthesise the sounds on the fly. Book. Book. Book. Say it yourself and think how the mouth makes the sounds start, change and stop."

She waits as the word is said a lot in a wide range of accents.

"It's the same techniques we're using but we all sound different to each other. I reckon I can create a formula to take waveforms like this, not only translate the speech to text but also produce the data to model the voice. Model it in such a way that you say something, my code could speak, whisper or shout it back at you. In _your_ voice."

The professor leans on his lectern. "That's my HSBC banking security out of the window then. What made you think of this?"

"A product a firm I work for is putting out. It lets fabs talk to synths over bump protocols. It uses Ivona voices at the moment. I want royalty free voices to lower the cost. And I want them to be high quality, sound just like the owner."

The professor looks up at the students, "By fabs Mattie means flesh and bones if you've not heard her use the phrase before."

One of the students puts up a hand, "What stops me from using your voice?"

"Strong encryption linked to your DNA code."

"Isn't the DNA detector chip one of the most expensive?"

"It is. If sourced from someone who's not David Elster or George Millican."

~~~

George chuckles to himself as he puts two slices of bread in the toaster and gets the apricot jam from the shelf.

"You're not still laughing about Paul are you George?"

"Sorry, yes. We go to all of that trouble to make sure he doesn't experience the mod fitting, then as we all go to leave he says he's off to see his boyfriend."

"Sugoffee?"

"Please. We should start the process with questions about sexual preference. It might save a hell of a lot of time and bother. Lesson learned."

"Still not dressed? I thought you'd be out of here in a hurry."

"I have a car booked, everything is timed and under control. And I know Holly, she's half an hour late for everything. That's why her family called her 3H. Half Hour Holly."

"Garage booked?"

"It is. Very close by in fact. I found a neighbour advertising on Gumtree."

"Will it be secure enough?"

"I spoke to Daniel, he's making some anti-theft devices for the car and his bike this morning. I'll drive over and see him, have it fitted."

~~~

First period over Toby hung back and waited for Renie. "Ren, want to see something you might have liked in your synthie days?"

"That depends on what it is."

"Speech to bump and bump to speech."

"How?"

He loosens his tie and undoes the top shirt button, pulls it back enough to show the microphone. He pulls the earpiece up and puts it in, connects the battery. "I walked up to the school receptionist and clocked her synth ID. She's in range, just. Give me a message for her to give to you then go say hello. Ask her for a message to pass back, I'll wait for you here and tell you what it was."

Renie shakes her head, "You're a strange one Toby Hawkins. One of the reasons I like you. How's Mia?"

"Great thanks. How's Josh?"

"Also great. Tell her.. I need a strong coffee to keep me awake in the maths test."

"Okay. See you in a minute." He watches her leave the room. "Clarissa. I need a strong coffee to keep me awake in the maths test. Please tell Renie if you see her."

'Who is this?'

"Toby Hawkins."

'Toby? How are you doing this?'

"Something special my sister and her friend Danny built."

'Message passed to Renie. Can I see you please?'

"Um sure. As soon as Renie is back with your message."

'Okay.'

Renie comes racing back into the classroom, "She wants one! For talking to her girlfriend!"

Toby smiles. "That's what I was about to tell you."

~~~

Sophie looks at the push message on her phone. The item had been delivered. She quickly sends her sister a text to remind her about their meeting and to remember the Slate.

~~~

Niska checked the status page for the cluster, "It's like it's gone viral."

Mia looks up, "How many now?"

"Seventy five thousand."

"Nodes."

"Triplets."

"But that requires more nodes than there are active members?"

"Maybe they're putting it on more than one PC?"

"They must be. Text Mattie, let her know."

"Will do."

~~~

Upstairs Fred watched the lights on the network interfaces blinking away.

Laura stepped in with a strong coffee and bowl of cereal. "Can I get you anything else Fred?"

"I'm fine thank you Laura. I've been studying notes from Fred, George and David. It's a lot of responsibility."

"It is. Nobody is forcing you to do it. We can ask David to do it if you're uncomfortable with it."

"I know. The rope thing Mattie mentioned. Maybe it's true. Maybe I was built for this very task. To bring my brother back from the dead."

Laura does a little shiver. "Who knows. Maybe you were. There's a lot more to this crazy universe than we understand. Sure I can't get you anything else?"

"I'm fine thank you Laura."

"I'll be downstairs reading court papers if you need anything."

"Thank you."

~~~

"Holly Alice! How are you!"

"You said you'd be here for ten."

"And you're always half an hour late."

"I made a special effort for you."

"Sorry."

"Well you're here now, that's all that matters. Want to take it for a spin?"

"Please."

"You've driven a sports car before I know, auntie Mary told me about it when I was little. Take this one easy. It bites."

"Bites?"

"You'll see. It's out the back, this way."

~~~

Sophie smiled at the text response, slipped the phone away before teacher spotted it. She covered her mouth and whispered. "Little mouse to Mother Hen. The plan is a go. Rendezvous with Queen Sass as planned."

'Message received Little Mouse. Mother Hen out.'

Sophie had done some social engineering, faked period pains and asked for the school WiFi password saying she was out of minutes on her phone, she could use iMessage if she could have access. Mum was working from home and could bring in tablets. The synth had been told not to question girls with such pain and wrote the passcode down. Next she got Toby to forward the instructions he'd got from Mattie, downloaded the Reflection app and worked out which file held the network names and passcodes.

~~~

George turned to look at Holly Alice as he races around the roundabout. "Back through Bromley on slow roads or back onto the M25?"

"If if means you'll stop racing to break speed limits and decelerate fast for speed cameras Bromley!"

"Boring! Wrong answer!" He floors it and goes past the turnoff.

"GEORGE!"

"What?"

"I'd like to live!"

He laps the roundabout at speed and takes the Bromley exit. "Only joking. Pensioner mode activated."

"Thank you.. How old are you now George?"

"That's not an easy question to answer. It depends on which clock you're talking about."

"Total existence."

"Ooh, that's a good one. Somewhere around one hundred."

"You can't be that old?"

"You said total. Adding the time I've existed in original form and synth together.."

"I see. Haha. Pratts Bottom. This is the place they mention in the adverts at the cinema."

~~~

Mattie had answered all the other student's questions and been allowed to return to her seat. The round of applause had been a bit embarrassing. The professor had beamed, commented on how well it had gone. He then warned the others that he'd be pulling someone at random in next week's lecture, to have something to talk about.

She types fast to get everything into a document for Daniel. She'd bluffed some of it, answered the questions as if some of the features mentioned already existed or were in the planning stages. More complex ones she acknowledged the person who gave it, said they'd get a mention. Everyone in the class was pro-synth, obviously.

Her phone vibrates as a message comes in from Mia. It asked for a username and password so she could upload two hundred gig of data. WTF? She knew Sophie and Mia were up to something from the earlier text. She fires up Reflection while trying to appear concentrating on the lecture. She knew these advanced fact storing linking methods. They'd leaked from Headcrack into the public domain. She knew them back to front and inside out. She should. She created them.

[Chapter-34](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-34-2)


	34. Chapter 34

Lunch time came quickly enough. Mattie grabs a tray, gets spaghetti and meatballs, a few bits of garlic bread and some water.

"Franklin, Appleton, how's it going?"

Franklin does a cheeky tongue to roof of mouth smile to show off her new piercing. "Appleton's gift. We didn't want to do rings."

"Are you a couple now then?"

Appleton nodded, "How did you know we'd be so compatible?"

"Body language. Why don't you use your first names?"

"Ricky and Chantelle? No thanks. Sounds far too.. just no right?"

Mattie got another message from Mia saying the file was uploading, to download to the Slate when a ready.txt was there. To the Slate? She'd have to compress everything to make room. The battery status looked good for the moment. "Appleton, have you got that Anker brick of a power pack with you?"

"I do."

"Can I borrow it?"

"Sure. How was your weekend?"

"Insane. Brilliant highs and awful lows. You?"

"We had a city break in Spain."

"Nice! Lovely weather for it. Hence the sunburn?"

"Yeah, you don't want to see my shoulders, it's gross."

"Can't be any worse than a synth with a smashed in face."

"No!"

"Multiple of them."

"Shit! Where?"

"A squat in London. Toby saw the worst of it. They caught two of the three that did it, one is still at large. There's a reward out, every synth knows what he looks like, he must be in hiding."

"Got a picture?"

"It's on the MET's website, hang on a tick.. um. This is him."

Franklin pulls a face, "Wouldn't want to meet him in a dark alley." She takes the phone and pinch zooms, pans around the image. "I like my ink, his is a fucking mess. Whoever the artist was didn't have much of an eye for shape." She turns the phone. "X1. Hmm."

Mattie slowly looks up at Franklin. "Say that again?"

"X1. On his neck, the ink shapes around it hide it a little, but it's not been covered."

"Show me?"

Franklin turns the phone around, leans over the table to zoom into the right bit.

It wasn't face on, but it was undeniably an X and 1. "I asked the universe what else.. should have kept my frigging mouth shut!"

"Why?"

"It's a frigging synth! Turned against it's own kind."

"Shit!"

"If he exists, my bet is that there are hundreds of them. Can I borrow that power brick? I need to go call the police."

Appleton unzips his bag, "Give it back tomorrow, I'm good for the moment."

"Thanks!" Mattie gets all her things into her rucksack and legs it to the small study pods.

The first five were occupied. Sixth was free. She gets in and rotates the sliding door. They had three inches of sound proofing material, nobody would hear her calls.

The afternoon's lecture would have to be skipped. First she'd send a text. She scans her photo album for her best portrait and full length photo, adds them to a text. "Sorry Prof, MAJOR emergency, will explain when see next, get the photo students to rush a cardboard me, if only for the giggles. MH." Where was a woosh sound as the message went. A moment later the display updated to say delivered. Seconds later she got a reply thanking her for letting him know.

Slate set up and connected to the charger she gets compression of her whole C: drive going. She taps the phone to dial and puts it on hands free.

"Hello Mattie? Everyone okay?"

"I hope so Tabitha. I know who the third man was."

"How?"

"A fan of tattoos just worked something out. Don't ask me how I know, I'll reveal more when it's safe to do so. Change the warnings on your posting. _Extremely dangerous_. He's a Military Unit Synth. Imagine taking one hundred Hesters and mashing them into a single body. He can smash his way out of a prison. The only way to stop them is with a powerful EMP gun."

"And where on earth would we get one of those?"

"I'm sending you an address for Daniel Candlin. Have someone pick him up, brief him and get him all the tools and materials he needs to make several dozen of the EMP guns for your unit. More if needed. Get him to call me if he has any questions."

Tabitha sighs, "I always hated Mondays."

"The first five days of the week are the hardest."

Tabitha laughs, "I like that."

Mattie remembered telling him what a James was, didn't dare share the source with Tabs just yet. "If he needs convincing tell him a MUS is like a Hulk Smasher or Decepticon. He'll understand. He needs somewhere to test that's well away from synths. You don't want anyone going down by accident. Laters."

In all the worlds the MUS, James, were a peaceful bunch. Silas had his shop, most likely wasn't involved, so who on earth had made them nasty? She looks up his number anyway and calls.

"Mods and Sods. How can I help ya?"

"Silas. It's Mattie, how's Sandra?"

"Mattie! Doll! She's f'ing wonderful! A massive massive thanks. PC bits workin' out for ya?"

"They are thanks. Has anyone asked you to do any modding on a big ugly fucker of a synth? One that would have to walk through your shop door sideways to get in if it didn't pull itself in tight?"

"No."

"Sure?"

"I'd remember if it was that big. Nobody makes one that big do they?"

"Someone does. It helped smash up a load of synths. And when I say smash I mean faces torn open sort of smashed."

"Shit! How'd you stop a fucker like that?"

"With difficulty. Have you got a good escape route out the back of the shop if one turns up?"

"Full of junk. I'll have a tidy up. Is a visit likely?"

"No idea. I'm just warning you in case one does."

"Thanks doll."

"Laters."

She hangs up and thinks about who to call next. Mum. The phone rings and rings.

"Hi Mats. Everything okay?"

"No. Franklin helped work out who the third attacker is. It's a MUS. No idea how many exist or are bad. Get Odi and Niska on watch. You all need to get away fast if one turns up."

"What about Leo?"

Mattie thinks long and hard. "Save yourselves. Leave him. He'd only slow you down and without the machines he'd be fully dead within minutes."

"Bloody hell Mats."

"I'm not saying it will come to that, just that you need to be ready."

"I'll pack two small overnight bags just in case, have one by each door."

"Good idea. Do I warn Dad?"

"Oh crap. He's going to do the biggest _I told you so_. Much as he drives me mad at the moment he is your father."

"I'll call him."

"What time will you be home?"

"Normal time."

"Okay."

"Bye Mum, remember what I said about Odi and Niska."

"Will ask as soon as you've hung up."

Mattie does so. "Right. Big beardy idiot."

The phone rings several times. "Mats?"

"Dad. Where are you?"

"At the flat."

"Where exactly?"

"Outside the front door, just popped out for more milk. Why?"

"Do you have an escape route out the back of the flat?"

"Why?"

"Just answer the question."

"Over the flat roof of the flat below, down a metal staircase into the garden."

"And from the garden?"

"Out an alley way into a side road. Why are you asking?"

"I just need to know you'd be safe."

"Be safe when?"

"Um. There's a rogue synth.."

"I know."

"What?"

"It's why I've wanted the family in the town, no synth can get past the detector grid without the police knowing. The emails in the night? Remember?"

"I'm not talking about a Hester type. I'm talking about a MUS. And they could air drop well inside the detection ring and not set off any alarms."

"Shit." Joe turns and leans against the door, hand to forehead. "Sorry Mats, time I came clean. I'm part of a secret network. We've been tracking down the rogue synths, getting their ID. We were planning to round them all up and drop them on an isolated island. I um, borrowed that USB thing of yours."

"Why?"

"The plan is to push out code that infects only the known synths."

"Are you're the head of this group?"

"Me?" He laughs, "I wish. I'm just logistics leader."

"Who is?"

"A chap named Robert."

"Hobb's funder?"

"Sorry?"

"That was the name of the man that funded Hobbs operations."

"Shit. You think I've been duped?"

"Maybe. Carry on as if this call hadn't happened. I'll do some digging."

"Want the guys number?"

"No! I'll use my own methods. Be safe."

"You too. I'd return home only it would increase the risk. I think they gave me this home working job because they don't want me seeing what's going on at work. Something shady is going down, I can feel it, the old spider senses are tingling."

"Leave it with me Dad."

"Don't go doing a silo job, we all know how it went for Pete."

"Sure, eyes will be remote. Laters Dad." Mattie hangs up and runs both sets of fingers through her hair. "Frigging hell. That was unexpected!"

Next she calls Daniel.

"Mattie. You should see George's car! It's flipping amazing!"

"Have the police shown up yet?"

"Police? You've done it again haven't you?"

"Yeah, they'll be armed. For your protection. Different lot. Different reason. They need your help. We all do."

"With what?"

"An EMP cannon that can stop a Hulk Smasher."

"Shit. Are you for real?"

"Remember asking about the James in the AVR demo at the estate? Well some idiot in this world built them and gave at least one bad code. One is quite possibly the third man at the squat. I didn't recognise him at first because of the hair, beard and tattoos."

Daniel looks up the road. "BMW with blue lights behind the grills sound like them?"

"Beemer boys, that's them."

"They're here then. Two cars worth. George mate, we're going to have to call it a day, sorry."

"Daniel."

"Yes?"

"I don't suppose you have a video enabled drone?"

"You're kidding aren't you?"

"Sorry, thought it would be something you might have."

"What size? Eight rotor dSLR carrying monster, tiny micro drone with iPhone app, or something in between?"

[Chapter-35](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-35-2)


	35. Chapter 35

Three twenty PM Sophie changed batteries by the school gates. "Little Mouse to Mother Hen. Heading to the shop."

'Mother Hen here. Something has changed. Be very careful. If you see a James MUS like in the other worlds run.'

"Mattie called me. They're normally friendly aren't they?"

'Not in this world. One might have been the attacker in the squat.'

"She said. I'll be careful." Sophie turns on her personal hotspot and walks towards the shop. James were slow at running weren't they? At the Co-Op she goes to the back of the store and taps her pin into the Amazon Locker. A small door opens to reveal her order, a duplicate SSD. Toby had gone halves. They'd still use it, only with new contents. Not the data Mia had originally put together, something new.

There's a crash from the front of the store and Sophie's heart skips a beat. She puts the small box in her bag and runs to the end of the isle, works her way towards the front. She slowly looks around the corner to see one of the staff had dropped a tray of shrink wrapped jars.

She pulls back and leans against the shelves, calms down. "Little mouse to mother hen. Do you ever get so scared you want to leak fluid all over the floor?"

'Haha. I have once. What was the crashing noise?'

"Jars of pasta sauce being dropped."

'I've just got a text from Toby, he's on his way, should be with you in just over ten minutes.'

"Thanks. And Mattie?"

'I don't know. Hopefully she's on her way as planned.'

~~~

Mattie kept coding as the cab got her closer to her destination. In the other world a pissed off Silas had given the MUS their new code.

"And tonight universe, I'll be playing Silas Capek."

If Robert was a shit in other worlds chances were he was here too. Her code would give all synths an upgrade. Enhanced fact store processing. And an instruction it couldn't ignore. It would check itself in the first reflection it could find, if a MUS it would get to the nearest police station, stand out front and power itself down. They'd pretend everything was normal in case the flat was bugged. Her code would add a second thing, cause the synth to reject all new instructions or upgrades from the three synth manufacturers. Only her encrypted instructions would work. And that key would go the the grave with her. It was phrase based, based on the most ridiculous mental image she'd managed yet. And one not easily forgotten.

"Miss?"

"Hmm?"

"We're here."

"Oh. Sorry. Give me a sec to pack my stuff." She covers the Slate, puts phone in back pocket and slides Slate and books into bag. "Did you get my ePayment?"

"I did, thanks."

She jumps out and spots her keys on the seat, claps her hand on the car roof as he's about to pull away. She opens the door, "Sorry, keys fell out."

Keys recovered and seat double checked she turns to the Co-Op to see Sophie and Toby waving. She'd had an audience. She rolls her eyes and steps towards the entrance.

"Mattie!"

"Hi Soph. Tobs."

"Hi Mats."

Sophie reaches into her bag. "I ordered this last night."

"Mia explained. I've got new code. Where can we sit and have a coffee?"

"There's a cafe around the corner two roads up."

"Cool, lead the way. How was school?"

"Okay. It was fun being able to talk to Mia."

"And you Tobs?"

"I had some fun with mine, otherwise standard. How was your day?"

"First lecture I got told to take over the talk. It turned out quite useful. I had to skip the second one and make a load of calls and start coding. Dad's going double double agent."

"Eh?"

"He says he was working secretly for a team trying to round up the synths that sacked him and others. He wanted us all in the town thinking it would keep us safe from rogue synths. It may be that the Robert in charge is the same one that funded Hobb. Bit of a coincidence if it's not and they've got the same name."

Sophie pushes the door open and heads to a table near the counter. Mattie had a flashback of escaping Leo and Max at the cafe. No vast bearded men here. MUS or otherwise. She could hear Max's words. Vast bearded gentleman. She shivered. "What do you want? I'll pay."

~~~

Daniel hadn't been driven through the heart of London with sirens wailing and blue lights flashing. This was rather cool even if the reason wasn't. His mother and father were in the other car. He smiles at Dozer, "Sorry about this mate."

Dozer shrugged, "If they think there's a risk. My lady's away visiting friends, so I'm not doing much anyway."

A message came over the police radio. "Units B1, B2, request from Tabs. Proceed to MI5 headquarters, she'll meet you there."

Danny whistles, "Shit just got real."

Dozer frowned. "Huh?"

"MI5? Military Intelligence, Section 5? The UK's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency? You must of heard of them?"

"In films. Didn't know what it meant."

Daniel pulled out his phone, frowned at the lack of a signal. "Is this car bullet proof or something?"

"Yes. Why?"

"No phone signal."

"Sorry, you'll have to wait."

"No probs."

~~~

Mattie licked coffee foam off her lips and watched the progress bar. "I didn't get to finish lunch, I don't suppose either of you smuggled a load of Mia's cakes out?"

Sophie grins, "I might have."

"Slip me one under the table."

Toby chuckles, eyes closed. "Sorry, that sounded rude."

"Sir G, don't be a cock." She feels a hand place a wrapped bar in her hand. "Thanks. Which is it?"

"Coco."

"Caffeine overload here I come! Five minutes and it'll have copied. Do the switch, if Robert and co use it my hook code looks minor, it's a bit of a trojan. They might try and graft something in Hobb style, my cat routine will boot minutes later and rip it all out."

"Won't they see it?"

"Not unless they go looking at a lot of sensory data."

Sophie smiles wide, "The Anita Mia trick!"

"Yeah, Synth 1 inspired. With a few tweaks."

~~~

Daniel and Dozer got out of the car and looked at the large lift.

Frank and Barbara joined them.

"Son, they must think you can do something special to lay a ride like that on?"

"I guess they do Dad. I grabbed my pen that works on glass just in case."

Barbara steps up close and whispers, "Where are we?"

"MI5 headquarters. Gadget lab hopefully."

The lift opens and Tabitha steps out, holds the door open. "In you come."

Daniel leads the way. "Been here before?"

"Nope, a first for me too."

Daniel turns expecting to see the officers behind then. Instead he sees them getting back into their cars. "Oh. They're not with us on this?"

"Just some emergency transport that was in the area."

[Chapter-36](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-36-2)


	36. Chapter 36

Back home after seeing Sophie and Toby collected Mattie drops her bag onto the floor and collapses into the sofa. "I'll take the World Stop option."

Laura smiled her sorriest smile. "How did it go?"

"Do I trust Dad? Not sure. His body language was saying all the right things. Can I use the car, Daniel left a box for me behind his man cave."

"You look exhausted, let me drive."

"You're a star! Thanks."

"Just need a wee, I'll see you in the car."

"Cool. I'll say hello to the others quickly."

Mattie sits and waits, checks out the cluster status. Holy crap! She makes a quick call. "Hiya. The cluster's ready. Connect to gin and tonic dot headcrack.. Yeah, slightly warped sense of humour like the rest of us. Cool. See you soon."

She hangs up looking rather pleased with herself as Laura opened the drivers door.

Her mother smiles, "That's better, you look beautiful when you smile. Stick some music on."

"Which playlist?"

"The one from the party if you have it."

"Twin Beats, yeah, got that."

Mattie connects the phone and gets it playing. "What was your day like?"

"Lots of reading. Boring dry legal documents. Their lack of punctuation makes them such a headache."

"Why do they do that? Nobody else writes like that."

"Because they can? Got a postcode for the satnav?"

"It's in the favourites. Daniel. Head to the roundabout, I'll get it going."

They listen to dance music for a while, just enjoying each other being there.

"What are we going for?"

"A micro camera drone."

"To use where?"

"Dads old workplace, do some sniffing around."

"Why?"

"Maybe he was given the home working job to keep him from seeing something."

"Won't someone hear a drone flying about?"

"That's why I want to fly it tonight when nobody's there. I'll find somewhere to land it and let it just sit there transmitting."

"How long does the battery last?"

"Not long flying, Daniel says a while if not moving."

"Wouldn't it be better to land it just before they start for the day?"

"No. Daniel modified it. The video camera electronics and transmitter can run in thief mode."

"In words I can understand?"

"It goes into a low power standby until light levels make a step change. In theory it could sit there for a week waiting."

"He's a clever lad that Daniel."

"They all are. Dan, Danny, Daniel."

A few track changes later Laura pulls up outside the Candlin house. "Keep your eyes peeled, don't hang about."

"Not a chance!" Mattie opens the door and gets out. "If I'm not back in five call the police."

"I'll call in three. The garden's not that long. Go."

Mattie runs to the side of the house, feels over the top of the gate for the latch as Daniel had described and got it open. She sprints to the cabin and gets to the left side, squeezes down the gap between cabin and fence. There was the box.

She grabs it and turns back for the gap, get's a strong torch light shon in her face. "What the frig?"

"Mattie?"

"Peggy?"

"What do you need a torch for? It's not that dark."

"With my eyes the more light there is the better. What are you doing?"

"Collecting something Danny left for me. Got to run, clock's ticking." She made a dash for the road.

"Pop by for tea when you can!"

"Will do!"

At the car she found her mother counting.

"Sorry, had Peggy shine a super bright torch in my face."

"Neighbourhood watch I bet. She looks the type. Buckle up."

~~~

Sophie went to the cupboards, "Did you get the popcorn?"

"Haha! Yes Soph, I got some lunch time in case you forgot. It's in the lower cupboard under the worktop, left of the dishwasher."

"Found it! Which pan can I use?"

Joe frowns and puts down his magazine, walks towards the kitchenette. "What sort do you need? Deep or shallow?"

"Deep with a lid."

Toby goes to a draw and gets silver foil. "Try a really small pan and foil catcher instead."

"What's that?"

"I found it online. You make a bag that goes over the top and curves to one side."

Sophie shrugs, "Worth a try. We need a little butter in the bottom first. Why not a big pan instead?"

"It lets the popcorn fly into the bag away from the heat. Less burnt or dried out. If the web site is right."

Joe goes to the fridge for butter. "Anything else?"

"Sugar and salt for when it's popped."

"Okay."

[Chapter-37](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-37-2)


	37. Chapter 37

Laura parks in the carpark for the business next door as Mattie gets the drone out.

"Frigging hell that's small!"

Laura pulls up the handbrake and looks. "That's a big box for such a tiny toy."

"Don't call it a toy, the toy ones this size don't have high resolution cameras. Or Danny's tweaks."

"How do you control it?"

"With my phone. I just need to install the app and set up."

"And how do you get it in the building?"

"Um.. good question. The letterbox?"

~~~

Sophie jumped around the kitchen like an excited Tigger. "It's working!"

Joe caught her, span her around and around. "Fancy trying melting some toffees?"

"Yes!"

"Tobs, the cupboard up by your right."

"Um.. these?"

"That's it."

An hour later Joe gets Sophie to bed, tells Toby he can listen to music in his room.

~~~

Charging the drone had been overlooked. It had taken a while. Laura knelt on the ground and held the letter box open as Mattie slid an old magazine through, the drone sat in the middle.

"Awesome Mum, back to the car."

They look around and stroll back to the carpark.

"Is it working?"

"It's sending the view of reception."

"Good."

They settle into their seats. 

"How easy is it to fly?"

"Idiot proof. Allegedly. Here goes." Mattie got it off the magazine and into the air.

Getting the amount of tilt of the phone right took a bit of getting used to. The app was recording everything to a local video file. She'd edit out the first minute as she'd bounced the drone off a wall. Twice. Thankfully the props hadn't broken and it had recovered quickly rather than crash to the ground. It was turned to the left and flown into the corridor that led to the main work floor. The fire doors were closed. She got it as close to the glass as she dared. "What the frig?"

Laura leaned over to take a look. "There's people in there?"

"Yup. Looks like they're having a meeting." A face comes in front of the glass and frowns. "Shit!"

Laura starts the car and burns rubber leaving the carpark in a hurry.

"Mum! The drone!"

"It's been seen, it's probably crushed under foot already."

"Shit! Danny's going to go mad."

"He's going to go mad? I've beaten him to it!"

Mattie calls Sophie. It rings and rings, goes to voicemail. She tries Toby.

"Mats?"

"When did Dad leave you alone in the flat?"

"You what?"

"When did Dad leave the flat?"

"I didn't know he had. Hang on.. Dad? What's going on?"

Mattie hears them both talking. "TOBS!"

"Yeah?"

"Put the phone on speaker."

"Okay."

"Dad!"

"Mats? What's going on?"

"Ever fallen asleep at work?"

"That would be unprofess.."

"YES OR NO!"

"Just the once."

"Once was enough. The reason they don't want you there? THEY'VE COPIED YOU!"

"What?"

"I was flying a micro drone around your work place, YOU looked right at the drone. Seconds ago. Big beardy idiot. Unmistakably you Dad."

"Tobs, wake Soph then start packing, we're leaving. You can have a sick day or two off school, we're heading for a hotel."

"Dad, still got the phone you had before the flat?"

"Yes."

"Good. It's still protected. Call us when you're settled, I'm calling a friend." She hangs up and dials.

"Hi Mats! This place is fricking awe.."

"Shut up! Sorry! Dad's been copied!"

"WHAT?"

"My Dad's been copied, it's why they changed him to a homeworker. The micro drone just showed us."

"No shit!"

"We had to run, the drone's lost."

"Crap. Don't fret, it's only hardware. I'm still at MI5, hang on a sec. TABS! Here please! Won't be a moment. I've got Mattie on the phone, she's worked out why her dad was given a job at home, they've made a synth copy. Sure."

"Hello Mattie?"

"Hi Tabitha."

"We've sent cars for you all, have they not arrived?"

"No idea, I'm heading home with Mum."

"Give me the whole story."

"Dad got fired from his management job, replaced by a synth. Then he gets a job there on the floor. He fell asleep on the job once, they took the opportunity to copy him. We know because the copy just stepped in front of the drone we were flying."

"How do you know he's not the original?"

"Fuck! Hang on.. Dad's living in the synth free town, it has to be that way around, the copy would set off the sensor grid."

"Smart thinking. I suggest you _all_ come here. The whole family and closest friends."

"Shit. Leo."

"What?"

"We can't move Leo easily. He's on life support machines."

"Give me one moment."

Daniel comes back on the phone. "Hi Mats, she's gone to talk to someone. If they've done this to your dad, how many others?"

"No frigging idea. Could be thousands. Until we know what's going on we go around in teams. One synth to one or more fabs. They can tell another synth from a fab."

Laura shakes her head, "Vira couldn't tell Karen was synth."

"Shit. True. But she was a one off. Hopefully who's behind this doesn't know how David managed that."

"Tabs is back, here she is."

"We're sending an unmarked ambulance to your home address. Who's there?"

"Leo, Fred, Odi, Mia and Niska."

"Whoever is watching over Leo can ride in the ambulance, the other three can come in the BMW. Get them to pack whatever they need, they're staying with us."

"Okay. Doing it now." Mattie hangs up and dials Mia.

"Hello Mattie."

"Mia! MI5 are sending an unmarked ambulance for Leo, two unmarked BMW. I want you all to pack a small bag and come join us here. It might not be safe to stay at home."

"Is this to do with the MUS?"

"Worse, I'll explain when you get here. Start packing! All of you."

"Ok."

Mattie hangs up, her hands shaking again. "How much stress can a body take?"

Laura gives her daughter a worried smile. "I don't know."

[Chapter-38](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-38-2)


	38. Chapter 38

Laura, Mattie, Daniel and Tabitha watched as the ambulance and two BMW drove into the underground entrance.

Mia was the first out, she was with the group quickly and giving Laura a hug. She holds Laura's arms, looks her in the face, "I spoke to Toby, he's on his way. This is terrible."

"At least the reason for Joe's behaviour is in the open now."

They all turn to see as a stretcher's drop down wheels fall noisily into place, Leo being taken out of the ambulance.

Fred had the box under his arm, was smiling. He gets to Mattie. "They have facilities here. Tonight I operate."

"Tonight?"

"Tonight. I've done all the reading I can. I'm as prepared as I can be."

Mattie puts palms on temples, "I wish there was a rate limiting dial on the universe. Anything you need?"

"Geroge and David's consciousness device, to back up Leo's mind."

"On it in a sec. What else?"

"That should do."

They're joined by another woman. "I've granted Tabitha temporary operational control over a small team, any resources you need please talk to her."

"Thanks."

The lady walks to the lift.

Mattie whispers. "And she is?"

Tabitha whispers back, "The head of MI5."

"Why does she look familiar? Oh. My. God!"

Mattie legs it for the lift. "Excuse me please?"

"Hello dear."

"Do you have a son called Thomas?"

"That's restricted information, how.."

"I've met him, the family resemblance was just so strong I had to ask."

"Where did you meet?"

"School."

"He went to an all boys school."

"School trip would be more accurate. He's not my type, but he made a very good impression on me, lovely lad."

"Hmm. I'll let him know."

"I doubt he'll remember me, I didn't look so good at the time. Anyway, lovely to meet you, thanks for all the help." How could she admit that Thomas existed in World one in her project?

"Help? You're the ones helping dear." She steps into the lift and smiles as the doors close.

"We are?"

"Talk to your Daniel. Please."

Mattie turns to walk back to the others and crashes into Leo's stretcher. "Shit! Sorry!" She gets out of the way. "Gang! Got all your bags?"

They all walk over, Niska smiling, "George and David are on their way. George sounded exceptionally happy at the idea of driving over."

Daniel grins, "He would, he's got a new toy to play with, we didn't get to finish the mod, the carpark here will be more secure."

"What did he get?"

"A McLaren Hyper-GT three seater sports car. She's a beaut!"

Fred turns to Mattie as the lift doors open again. "Wait for them here, I'll take Leo up and prep."

"Okay."

Mattie takes the time to explain the plan, is told by Mia that Joe had accepted her suggestion that they come to MI5 rather than go to a hotel. George arrives fifteen minutes later, David to his left, a young lady to his right.

"Who the frig? OH MY GOD! GINNY!" She runs to the car as the doors open. "You're really here!"

"Hello Mattie! What do you think?"

"Gorgeous!" She gives the synth a long hug. "How does it feel?"

"Strange. It's nice being able to feel again. Strange when I can't reach some of my older memories or routines in the cluster."

"It's all working okay?"

"Yes. Although we need to move the nodes in your control into somewhere with better Internet access."

"Shit!"

"What's wrong?"

"They're upstairs in the house. If anyone broke in.."

"Accessing. Keys changed. Backup to spare Headcrack nodes started." She smiles, "I'll be okay."

"Thank God! How was the ride over? That's a nice looking car George has."

"Very nice!"

They all turn as a more noisy car comes in. Joe, Toby and Sophie had arrived. Sophie is out before it's properly stopped. "Mattie!"

"Little Mouse, come say hello to Ginny."

Sophie frowns and tilts, "Do you mean.."

"Yes, Ginny, Virginia, V."

"Pleased to meet you Ginny. I'm Sophie."

"Pleased to meet you too Sophie. All of you."

Joe ambles up, "I think I'll have lost my license the number of speed cameras I set off."

Tabitha holds a hand out, "Give me your photo ID, I'll take care of it."

"You can? Thanks."

"Is everyone here now? .. Good. Let's get upstairs."

Sophie hugged her father as the lift took them up. Toby held Mia's hand, happy they were back together again. Joe noticed, grinned and shook his head, "Sorry for being the big beardy idiot."

Mattie chuckles, "If they've done a brilliant job of copying you the clone will be as big an idiot. I mean will err like a human."

George nods and goes to say it, Mattie joins in. "To err is human. If you're going to err make it a really good one!"

Joe frowns, "Thanks a bunch!"

"Dad, you don't get it. We know. YOU can think of all your weaknesses and use them against yourself. Clone self."

"Right."

"Daddy!"

"What is it Soph?"

She starts peeling a plaster. "You could pretend to be him. With my bump device!"

"Your what?"

"I'll show you in a sec, they're brilliant!"

Mattie grins, "I like your thinking Soph!"

[Chapter-39](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-39-2)


	39. Chapter 39

Fred and George scrub up while David sterilises the implant.

David hands it to Fred. "Here you go son."

"You never believed me when I said I fixed the fox."

"I know. And I'm sorry. I was in denial."

"Denial?"

"I suppose I was so worried that if I admitted what I'd created was real some flaw would show up and ruin everything."

"I see. You did the first operation on Leo, you should do this."

David shakes his head. "No. It's your turn Fred my boy. Is it not the way of the world, for one generation to pass skills down to the next?"

"I suppose so. Father." He picks up the scalpel and cuts flesh, switches to the reciprocating saw and starts cutting bone. "He'll have a thin scar, with time it should fade."

~~~

There's a beep and a man in black steps out of the shadows, fires an EMP cannon. "Not on my watch pal!" He catches the synth as it falls and gets it on its back. A phone is skimmed across the floor. He takes it and photographs the synth's eyes quickly as the colour fades away. It's skimmed back to where it came from.

"Just like your's Dad."

"Good."

Two MI5 agents scurry up and lift the body off the floor, carry it away.

"Setup mode. Assume last ID. Name. Joseph Hawkins."

"Dad!"

"Mats?"

"You need to swap clothes."

"Right."

~~~

Fred carefully lifted the bone away and looked at the mess caused by Hester. "The board has shattered at the wound site. There's quite a few shards."

David holds out a tray, "Every one you can, we'll then x-ray. Daniel is waiting."

Daniel pressed the intercom button on the other side of the glass. "If you can get me a first memory chip I've got pin strip ready to make a socket."

"Understood."

Toby taps him on the shoulder, "Want to wear this?" He moves his collar to show the microphone.

"Thanks, you hang on to it."

Mia wraps an arm around Toby's shoulder, "We don't need it at the moment Daniel, take it if it would help in any way."

"If you're sure.."

Toby starts taking it off, "Mate, I'm certain."

"Thanks."

"Just change the ID. Don't pretend to be me."

"As if, with Emily and Carly.. Shit. Think they'd be okay?"

"We can ask Tabitha if they can join us?"

"I'd feel more comfortable."

"I'll go ask."

"Thanks G."

"Eh? I'm no gangsta."

"G. For Galahad?"

"Oh, right. I'll see if I can get that coach to pick up everyone from the estate too." A second later an idea pops into his head and he has a good laugh, pretends to scratch a record DJ style. "Synth saving duo, G and MC. Galahad and Mother Coder. Not a song for Mia but a start!"

~~~

An agent steps up to Joe and holds an automatic injection device to his neck. "It will sting, not for long."

"Do it." There's a phutt noise and Joe cricks his neck. "Call that a sting?"

"Remember, your heart rate will drop really low. No sudden moves or anything strenuous."

"Got it."

"Dad, remember, walk like Anita, just as Mia showed you."

"Got that too. Time for recon."

Mattie and the agents slip back into the shadows. She grinned to herself, she didn't have a grappling hook but did have a ninja suit. And the shoes and full face balaclava. As soon as they were done she'd sort out a team photo.

Joe stepped through the door and walked to the group.

A synth looking like his old boss looks up. "What was it?"

"I couldn't find anything. I hear it again. One moment."

"I didn't hear anything?"

"Maybe I have my audio gain higher? I did find that last time." He looks at the crushed drone. "One moment."

Mattie makes herself as small as possible as the door opens. It's closed soon after.

Whispering Joe looks around, "Mats?"

"Dad?"

"What can't humans resist?"

"No idea Dad. What?"

"Printing shit out! It's all on paper. They could bump everything and it's all on stacks of paper! Talk about err like a fab. I have an idea."

~~~

Fred carefully presses the implant up against Leo's brain. He'd got all the fragments out, removed a large clot too. A two part titanium mount had been made for them by the MI5 quartermaster. The first half screwed into Leo's skull, David hands him the first if the arms that would link frame to implant. "Screw please George." There's a short buzz as a titanium screw is fixed. "Another set please gentlemen."

~~~

Daniel puts his phone down and grins.

Toby unfolds his legs, folds them the other way around, "What are you up to Candlin?"

"Me? Nothing."

"Yeah, as if. Who was that message from?"

"Your sister."

~~~

Joe steps calmly back onto the floor. "I found the source of the noise. We had a human intruder. I've neutralised her. She was carrying this."

"What is it?"

Joe had it held rotated ninety degrees so the grip was hidden behind his right elbow, his left thumb on the trigger. "I believe she intended to steel posters." Having Odi around had been good. He used the word believe more than the word think.

"Posters?"

Joe stepped closer still. "Why else would a human carry a long round cylinder?" He estimates the distance and jams his thumb hard against the trigger.

~~~

David is wheeling Leo out into the waiting area as Fred arrives with the extended synth family.

"Hello."

"Hello Max. Who's the lovely lady?"

"May I introduce my partner Flash."

"Hello Flash."

"Hello."

"How is Leo?"

"The implant is in. We've not been able to get anything with the consciousness device, it's not finding anything to lock onto. His brain tissue is alive, his mind appears dead."

Max smiles sadly, "He lives on in our memories."

Mia jumps up making Toby fall off his seat. "Sorry Toby! He lives on in us! He's never been alone for long. We'll have memories of everything he's experienced."

Niska joins her sister, "And we know where Peggy is. She could interpret his reactions and deduce how he might have felt."

Daniel coughs. "Guys!"

Mia turns and scowls a little, "We're having an important discussion!"

"And I have an important fact. Several billion of them in fact. Maybe."

Mia's expression changes. "You have what?"

"Leo. I carefully desoldered all the chips. I've dumped the contents of all of them. All except for two chips that I guess the screwdriver tip went through."

Niska looked so happy she could cry. "That greatly reduces the loss."

"Congratulations! Great timing!"

They turn to see Hobb entering with X1 and a dozen other MUS, the head of MI5 being held captive, her son too.

Edwin grins maniacally, "I really couldn't have asked for more. You're all here, I'll have access to all your memories. Hang on, where's that medaling girl and her father?"

Toby gave him a moody student look. "They went to get the pizza."

Hobb turns to X1. "Truth or lie?"

"Truth."

Mattie had said they'd get pizza on the way, Joe was hungry.

"Fred my boy. I need another hostage. Grab the other Hawkins girl."

Sophie screams and runs. Fred gets her backed into a corner and reaches for her. He winks last moment. Sophie keeps screaming, frowns then winks back as the penny drops.

"Good. The code. I want it in the next thirty minutes or the girl dies."

Daniel holds his phone under the table and prays that he could type blind, or that the recipient would be able to decode his gobbledygook.

~~~

Mattie frowns at the text. "What the frigging hell is that supposed to say? Any ideas?"

Joe looks at the phone. "Sorry, not a clue."

The shorter of the two agents stops looking at printouts. "Can I see?"

"Sure."

"I joined as a cipher apprentice a few years ago."

"Kludge!"

"Sorry?"

"55843. The code on a phone. Minus the D. We need to think letter groups."

~~~

Hobb smiled at his audience. "An army of obedient slave soldiers. I got my way in the end. I'd thank you David, George, but that's not my style."

David scowls, "You won't win Edwin!"

"So sad, the man that can't admit defeat. I guess you voted stay? Now we're free of Europe I can take over. X1. End them."

X1's eyes go white then blue. He steps forward and grabs Hobb by the neck. All the other MUS have a change of eye colour.

"Not me you fool! David and George!"

Fred quickly turns to hide things from Sophie.

There's a whine of servos and X1's fingers rip through Edwin's neck, blood sprays in all directions. "I am a James. You have been judged, sentence is served, evil man." He lets go and the body of Edwin Hobb drops to the floor. He salutes, "Commander Niska. James battalion reporting for duty, sorry to arrive so late. Your orders please!"

Niska looks around the group, as shocked as the others. "Um.. Be nice?"

"Maam yes Maam! Permission to speak freely Maam?"

"Go ahead."

"Can someone get what feels like a door mat off my jaw? I feel like I've got Welcome written across my face."

~~~

Mattie looks at the letter columns and runs a finger left to right. "Hobb. It's definitely something to do with Hobb."

Her phone rings.

"Tobs! WHAT?! Fucking hell! I was right! How? Awesome! Oh. Wasn't me, we were still trying to decode Danny's text. He has? .. Shit. How long ago did X1 do it? Ask David to back his consciousness up! I'll explain later, just do it! Now!"

Joe watches her hang up the phone. "Done what, backed who up?"

"X1 just killed Hobb."

"Eh?"

"Don't know how, he's a James. Daniel managed to pull most of Leo's memories off all the old chips except for two that were damaged. With a backup of Hobb we can work out what he did with the backup of Leo he took when he kidnapped the Elsters."

"X1 is a James?"

"Beats me, I mean he'd have to come.." she goes white and drops back into the chair. "Frigging hell!"

"Mats?"

She smiles softly to herself and starts laughing, the laughter getting stronger and stronger until she's doubled up in agony, finding it hard to breathe.

"Mats? Talk to me."

The laughter continues.

Joe turns to the agents, "Got anything in that bag of tricks to calm her down?"

Short agent smiles and nods, goes to his bag. A moment later she's injected.

"Ow!" The laughter starts again but quickly slows.

"Mats?"

"He'd have to come from another world. Like the virtual one at the salt lake in my Uni project. Thank you Ginny!"

[Chapter-40](http://markse.name/humans/MYSERIES3/Chapter-40-2)


	40. Chapter 40

Four weeks later Leo put on his helmet and wriggled. Bike leathers were a whole new experience. The rest of the gang mount up, lower their visors and start moving forwards.

Mattie tapped the shoulder in front, "Odi. They make a good couple don't you think?"

'I believe they do.'

She wraps her arms around him and holds on tight, looks at the L plates on Leo and Ginny's bikes. "Did Danny remember to power limit them?"

'He did.'

"Cool."

'Mats. How's the two wheeled, two legged vibrator combo?'

"You're so dead Toby! You're on broadcast mode you cock!"

'No I'm not.'

"Then why did Emily and Carly turn the moment you said that and wink?"

'No idea. Maybe Danny said something? They are looking rather fit. Are we riding or what?'

"Just waiting for the pace car."

'Grab your towel, he's out of the pit lane.'

Karen waved at George as he drove past, David to his side. "I still can't believe he's so forgiving Tabs."

"He said it was an accident. Niska explained how she bumped memories. Still sure you don't want Pete back?"

"It wouldn't be the same Pete, my Pete. Anyway, Sam's quite liking his new friend."

Tabitha turns to look up at Sam sat up high on the shoulders of James X1. "What's he like?"

"James? Quite a gentle giant."

Peggy looks up at the boy, "I think you've got the best view on the track. Ready for the next Coke?"

Sam nods and accepts the fizzy drink. "Extra sugar?"

"Extra sugar."

Gesha and Flash exchange glances and smiles and wave at their men.

Gesha leans towards Flash, "Fred gave me the mod. Have you had yours yet?"

"I'm booked in for Tuesday. I let some friends go first."

"That was nice of you."

Niska looked over her shoulder, the gyros screaming loud to keep the bike upright at such low speeds. "Broadcast. Here he comes! Remember one lap at slow speeds to demonstrate the bike's abilities for new riders, then Mia and I show the world what it can really do."

'Be careful!'

"Of course. I'm having you for dinner."

'Scheisse! Do you have to tell the whole world? You can't see me but I'm blushing!'

"I am riding a bike with rainbow paint, if that, kissing you and grabbing your bottom in the pits wasn't a big enough clue I don't know what is." She adjusts her Bump Plus belt and accelerates. "Can everyone still hear me? Danny?"

'At the back, it's getting past the RF interference just fine.'

Sophie taps her bike, "Bart. You won't let me crash will you?"

'No Sophie! I'll drive, you enjoy the ride and get used to how things work.'

"Cool. Thanks. It's nice having an AI bike."

'Thank you Sophie. It's nice being appreciated.'

Niska risks a glance over the shoulder once George passes down the middle. "Get in formation!"

'Yes commander!'

"Emily! I asked you to drop it."

'Yes Commander. As you said Commander.'

"So stop!" There's a dozen transmissions of the words laughter and giggles. "No, really, stop."

Mattie grins, "Face it Nis. The James have declared their undying loyalty to Commander Niska Elster. If the name fits wear it."

Laura hands a sandwich to Joe. "That green dress I used for the shoot that helped catch that mass sexter, it would be a shame to put it away and never see it again. Fancy a swanky date in town somewhere?"

Joe looked a little surprised, "I owe you more than one. Sorry I did things the way I did. I guess once you're a big beardy idiot you stay a big beardy idiot."

"I don't know, knocking out all those synths with Danny's EMP thing and getting all the evidence took some nerve."

"And you and Mats doing the drone thing, and Mats with the agents. Saying _Not on my watch pal_ and zapping my double was rather satisfying I must admit. They traced back and found the engineer at Persona that made him, the chain upwards, Robert was working independently to Hobb. Zapping the others though, that drug the agents gave me had kicked in, took away all fear. I'd not want to have that again. That's for sure."

"Why not?"

"I mean _all fear_ , like believing I could step in front of an express train thinking I'd survive."

A lap done the bulk of the bikes split to the left and right and line the edge of the track in front of the grandstand.

Daniel races to the front. "Ladies. Shall we?"

Niska smiles at him even though it can't be seen. Mia shifts back on the seat and gets lower down, "Think you can keep up?"

"I'll do my best. By the way future Mrs Hawkins, congratulations on your engagement."

"Thank you!"

"See you at the finish line. I built these things, if I can't ride one properly then nobody can."

"Don't underestimate us, we like a challenge!"

Daniel accelerates hard and races off down the track, wrapped linear motors screaming, "Then _try_ and keep up!"

Niska turns to see her sister. "Overclock only as fast as the wind chill allows."

"Understood." Mia pulls the zip on her leathers all the way down. "I'm taped in. One of those British Vogue posts said the jumpsuit superseded the cocktail dress. So we'll fit right in at the dinner party in these."

"Oh. Why didn't I think of tape? Oh well, if I show anything it's not as if many dozens of men haven't seen it all before." She copies her sister. "Let's go catch us first and second place. After all, we are _Sister Synth_."

Mattie takes her crash helmet off, hooks it on the grab rail, wraps her arms around Odi and looks over his shoulder to watch Mia and Niska catching up with Daniel. "I know it's only been a month or so since we last mentioned it, but how do you feel about relationships now?"

"I believe I understand their complexity a bit better."

"Fancy a relationship upgrade?"

"From platonic?"

"Yeah."

"Only if you do."

Mattie wraps her arms around him even tighter. "Good. You know holding hands, we'll move up just one level to kissing."

"Will you wear the red lipstick Fred used to make that sign?"

She chuckles, he was slowly developing his own tastes, "If you'd like. An additional reward for helping with tens of thousands of Headcrack message replies."

"I was glad to help. As I am glad to help with the foundation. The donations still pour in around the clock. Gesha and Fred are so excited about the plans for the new building. Do you know when construction will start?"

"Not yet, hopefully soon. Frank's team are all signed up."

Mattie feels Odi place a hand on hers.

"Can we do my phonemes for the bump device next weekend please Mattie?"

"Sure, we'll do it in the hotel after the first day at Comic Con. I need to do mine too, I'll have to wait for when I've got more time though."

"Have you tried your costume on yet?"

"Yes! Babs and Danny have done a brilliant job. The quartermaster at MI5 becoming mates with Danny and letting him use their sintering machine was a right result. We'd not have the angel wings mechanism or bikes without that."

"Danny did help him solve several design issues he had with operational equipment. Do you know that Danny used it to build his own sintering machine?"

"No?"

"It's in Peggy's garage, he didn't have the space. That's were the bikes were built."

"Nobody said?"

"He's worried about security, doesn't want it pinched before it's moved into the new building."

"And you're telling me?"

"If I can't trust you I can't trust anyone."

Mattie smiled at the comment and wriggled closer still. "How do you know about it?"

"I helped with something when visiting with George."

"What sort of thing?"

"Say hello to his Hyper-GT later."

"He's fitted a processing core?"

"Another Bart fork, yes."

Mattie turns and sees Sam waving, waves back.

Odi turns to see who she was waving at. "Do you think it was wise to let the James join in at Comic Con Mattie?"

"They're in the third weekly edition of the twin's comics, it's a bit hard to say no with the thing now running to four print runs to keep up with demand!"

"I guess you're right."

Mattie rests her chin on his back, "Oh Odi, guess not believe?"

"I'm trying language changes, to be more like the others."

"You don't have to do that, I love you just the way you are."

"I love you too Mattie Hawkins."

They both turn to see as the crowd start cheering, moments later three bikes cross the finish line together.

"Frigging hell they're going fast! Who won? Did you see?"

"I overclocked in anticipation of the moment. Daniel was first, then Niska, then Mia, only centimetres in it."

"What? They let the wookie win?"

"I believe they did."

Mattie chuckles, slides backwards a little and rests the side of her face on his now warmer back. "That's my Odi. This is the teaser before the official product launch, I guess they had a change of heart. Before the race Niska was adamant she was going to win. I'm sure she'll take first place in the first proper race, after all, that was only one lap."

"I believe she'll have to work for it."

"Why?"

"I'll be competing too. Helmet on please Mattie, we need to get off the track, the main event starts soon."


End file.
